Past POIs - Kingston Penitentiary [Kingston, Ontario, Canada]

Our recent trip to Kingston and Ottawa was for one purpose (well, one main purpose) and that was to visit the Kingston Penitentiary. Opened in 1835, this penitentiary housed some of the biggest criminals in Canada was closed in 2013.

This year (and I believe it happened one other time), Kingston Penitentiary is open for public guided tours, however, the tickets were being scooped up really quickly (probably by scalpers), but if you visit the website (http://www.kingstonpentour.com/), you may luck out for some tickets. The price is $25 per adult and it is a guided tour which lasted about 1.5 hours in length and you do walk around a majority of the penitentiary.

When you are wandering around, you will notice how things have changed over time from what it was like almost 200 years ago. A lot of sections were added, cells were expanded, buildings were added, and many more. I don't want to cover too much since the guide tour itself does talk about a lot of these details.

During our tour, unfortunately, there was only one corrections officer that talked about their experience while working at KP. When checking online, apparently some tours had more officers, which would have made the tours more interesting in my mind. This was due to the fact that the tours themselves were actually run by teenagers (at least when I did my tour). They did seem to know a bit about the history, however, it feels a bit weird when someone so young is talking about something so historic especially since this is probably their summer job.

But that should not deter you from paying KP a visit if you can. It is currently unknown as to what will happen to it and nobody knows if the tour will run again in the future, so if you want to see it, now is a good time to go. While you are here, check out the museum just across the street for some artifacts and historic items from KP and as a bonus it is free!

For more information you can visit their site at http://www.kingstonpentour.com/

Come back next Friday for another Past Point of Interest!

Past POIs - Changing of the Guard [Ottawa, Ontario, Canada]

Another summertime event that takes place in Ottawa is the Changing of the Guard which happens at Parliament Hill every morning at 10:00am since 1959!

Make sure to arrive at around 9:30am to get a good spot to watch the show. Note that while it does formally begin at 10:00am, you want to be here a bit early to find a good spot to watch. In my opinion, pick the area near the road on the south side. You will notice an path that allows people to go into the green field, that is where you want to be, just make sure not to be in the path since that is where the people come in.

The Changing of the Guard has ceremonial guards along with a marching band and pipers performing the ceremony which provides for a good show. The guards are from two regiments, the Governor General's Footguards and the Canadian Grenadier Guards. I did feel bad for them since they are fully clothed during the hot summer weather.

The event itself lasts roughly 30 minutes, during this there is someone over the speaker explaining the history and what is happening in both English and French. It is a free event, so there is a good amount of people here to watch. It is a nice way to start the morning.

Come back next Friday for another Past Point of Interest!

Past POIs - Remic Rapids [Ottawa, Ontario, Canada]

During our long weekend roadtrip to Ottawa we visited Remic Rapids for the first time and it is a very interesting stop if you happen to come during summer time. Why it is interesting only during the summer time? The rock art!

In 1986, John Felice Ceprano started to build balancing rock art at Remic Rapids and has been doing this annually since. It only lasts during the summer time since it disappears when it gets colder and the tides are higher. Each year there is a different theme and you can actually view all the previous works on his website.

We were fortunate enough that John himself was there while we were visiting, unfortunately, he was repairing a damaged sculpture due to vandals. It was nice to chat about why he does it and how it came to be.

Worth a stop if you are driving and have some free time. I know we see this all the time at CNE, but it was neat to see this elsewhere and the gentleman seems to do this for relaxation and peacefulness since he talked a bit about that while we were there.

Parking is readily available and free. It is a bit of a walk from downtown but it is only a short drive from Chinatown. For directions just look for Remic Rapids Park. For more information, visit http://www.jfceprano.com/pages/aboutme

Come back next Friday for another Past Point of Interest!