The good weather did not hold out like it had for the previous few days. It was fortunate for us that we had brought our rain coats because it began to rain by the time we got to Belleville - which is about 45 minutes from Kingston.
By the time we reached the Kingston City Limits, however, it had stopped raining and the sun was starting to come out.
The Kingston Holiday Inn overlooks Lake Ontario. When Billy and I checked into the hotel, we asked for a room that overlooked the lake. After we had gotten settled in our room, we decided to take a stroll along the water's edge towards Confederation Park. It was a lovely early spring day. I could just imagine the boats tied up at the dock in front of the hotel during the summer. It was around 4:30 pm when we made it back to our room. We decided to to go dinner early. Even though we had had a late lunch, we had had a light one and were ready by 5 pm after we dressed up. Billy looked great in his dark blue suit and I had chosen a burgundy short dress with spaghetti straps.
The dining room was practically empty. It was still early and most of the people who would eat out were probably still getting off work. The matre d' gave us a table right in front of the window and it was a great view. The Wolfe Islander ferry was just starting to make its way across the lake to Wolfe Island. The old clock from City Hall tower chimed 5 o'clock as we started to decide what we wanted for dinner. The waitor, whose name was Peter and we found later was a Leaf fan, came by and told us what the specialties of the house were - prime rib steak, salmon steak, swordfish and several Italian dishes.
I really was not in the mood for scallops, having had them several nights before, and after much deliberation, decided to be daring and try salmon steak. Billy, who was not feeling that daring this particular evening, decided to stick with his medium-rare steak. The dinner included soup of the day which for that day was homemade minestrone.
After dinner, we decided to take another stroll along Confederation Park. It was a lovely sight to behold. The clock in the City Hall Tower was illuminated and it really looked nice. I was looking forward to spending a few days getting to know my husband better and I knew that Kingston had been a great choice to do that.
We decided to retire to our room early because it had been a long day after travelling from Sunset to Toronto and then Toronto to Kingston. It would be a bigger day the next day when we went a few sightseeing tours to get to know a little bit of the early history of our great nation.
Billy and I spend the rest of the evening talking and watching a little of TV. This was before the advent of cable TV and millions of cable stations to chose from. The play-offs had begun and of course CBC was carrying the game nationally between Montreal and Boston
The Kingston tour from our hotel did not start up until the tourist season got into full swing until mid-June. So, we decided to go on our own tour. Our first stop was to the Kingston City Hall since it was just about 2 blocks from our hotel room. They had one tour a day in the mid-morning, so we decided after breakfast to take it. It was free, of course. The tour guide took us to all parts of the structure. Kingston had been the capital of the province of Upper Canada from 1842-1844. Kingston had hoped that when Canada became a nation in 1867, it would become the capital. But Bytown (later Ottawa became the capital.
After the tour was over, we hurried back to our hotel to grab our car. Since it was such a lovely day, we decided to spend the afternoon over at Wolfe Island. The ferry over to the island left at 11:30 am and we drove over to the dock which was just next door to the hotel. The ferry was on time. The forty-five minute ride was lovely. The water was calm and the boat was not crowded. We got out of the car during the voyage and walked around to enjoy the view. It was a breath-taking view of the Kingston harbour, PUT PICTURE OF HARBOUR, if possible, FROM HERE. The little hamlet of Marysville on Wolfe Island was just as I had pictured it. It was like the places back in the 1800s I am sure. There was a general store, a restaurnat, antique stores, and old fashioned post office. Much of the land on the island is used up for farmland, so there were also feed stores and co-op stores there also.
The General Wolfe Hotel, the main accommodation in the hamlet, was in an old building built in the 1840s. The restaurant which was the main attraction in the town, was not crowded. The main dining room was decorated brighly in yellow and blue. The owner of the establishment, Mary Hudson, was the 4th generation Hudson to work at the hotel. Her great-grandfather had come over to Wolfe Island in the 1800s and the hotel had been in the family ever since. After a lunch of the speciality of the house, homemade chicken soup and ham and swiss cheese on rye and a large pitcher of iced tea, Billy and I decided to spend an hour or so driving around the island. The island is still very much like life was in Canada in the 1800s. Most people lived on farms and those who lived in the cities or towns or villages were professionals - doctors, lawyers, merchants, etc.
We caught the 2 pm ferry back to Kingston.
We were still in a 1800 frame of mind and decided to visit the home of Sir John A. Macdonald - Bellevue House.
Sir John A, as he is affectionately called in Kingston, was born in Scotland in 1815. He came over in the 18-- to Kingston. He received a degree in law in --------- at ----------------. While he lived in Kingston, he began to dream of a united Canada. At that time in Canadian history, all of the provinces in Canada were still under British rule. I think he dreamed of an independant Canada which would be reached thru negotiated settlement and not a revolution like the Americans. His wife, ---------------, was a very frail woman who was sick for most of her life. He bought the house in hopes she would be able to become well. In 1867, his dream became a reality and four of the colonies became the Dominion of Canada - Ontario (formerly Upper Canada), Quebec (Lower Canada), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He became Prime Minister and held that post until 1891 when he died.
Bellevue House was opened to the public in --------- and has been restored to the way it was in the 1800s.
We had dinner at the hotel.
The next morning we decided to continue our Kingston adventure. The main attractions of the city are the boat cruises and museums and historical sites. Unfortunately the time we went there, was early spring. The main attractions do not open up until May or even June. We would have loved to have been there in the summer and see Fort Henry which is known for its military drills. And every other year they host the Marines from the United States - and the silent drill team. Maybe one year in the future we could revisit the fort.
However, until then, we could go visit the Royal Military College museum.
The Royal Military College
was established in 1874 and today is regarded as one of the best military academies in Canada. The cadets graduate after
a four-year term in such fields as civil, electronics and mechanical engineeering. They are promoted into the Canadian
Military at the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Among the artifacts at the museum, were military uniforms from different eras
in Canadian history. It was intersting to see how they had changed over the years. The museum also houses many
types of ammuition from the same time period - 1600s to present time.
I had never finished high school. I never found it to be very interesting, but after the trip to Kingston, I did think about taking correspondence courses and finishing my diploma. Seeing history come alive like that made me wish I had graduated. I know that Billy would support me in anything I did anything I did like that. It sure would be something that would keep my mind busy while Billy was playing hockey awya during ht windter. It was something that Billy and I discussed during the rest of our vacation and after we bought our house and had a permanent address, I started it.
Fort Frederick, as the museum is called, is housed in a very old building built in the 1800s.
Fort Frederick is only the other side of the point from the Holiday Inn. We decided to continue in the military mode of the morning and visited a sister museum of Fort Frederick - the Murney Tower Museum.
During the 1800s, before the United and States and Canada declaired peace among the two great nations, several buildings were built to protect the small village of Kingston from a possible attack by the Americans. That was the purpose of Fort Henry being built. Of course, the Americans never did attack Kingston.
