Mary takes a quick trip to Quebec

Mary spent a November weekend visiting Quebec, where she found the Old City already looking very Christmassy.

Photos Mary posted on Facebook include this view inside the Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec.

Mary also explored the wintry landscape of the Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier, about 40 miles north of the city.

For that excursion, she made sure to dress warmly - and bring along a taste of home! (Lakeside Lounging is a craft IPA brewed in Saratoga Springs.)

Cathy goes on a "mystery tour" in Ontario

Toronto from the observation deck of CN Tower

Cathy spent a late-October week in the Toronto area on a "Behind the Scenes" tour for the Canadian TV show “Murdoch Mysteries.” She writes: "It’s a great show and the trip was wonderful."

The tour focused on locations in Toronto, Kingston and Niagara on the Lake that have featured in episodes of the show, which is set in the 1890s and early 1900s. The group also had opportunities to meet cast members and visit sets used in the production at Shaftesbury Films studios in Toronto.

Cathy with Arlen Humphreys ("Margaret Brackenreid")

Group photo on set, with Yannick Bisson ("Detective William Murdoch), in vest with Cathy behind his left shoulder.

Street set on back lot

At Det. Murdoch's desk

Suspicious character in the street

Tour stops included Casa Loma, a huge and ornate Gothic Revival castle-style mansion and garden in midtown Toronto.

It was built in 1911-14 for financier Sir Henry Pellatt. Lady Mary Pellatt hosted the city's female philanthropists and political activists at teas in the castle's solarium.

In Niagara-on-the-Lake, the group stayed at the elegant, Victorian-style Prince of Wales Hotel, built in 1864.

Tea is served afternoons in the Drawing Room

Naturally, a visit to Niagara Falls was included. There was also a dinner in the barrel room at Peller Estates Winery.

The group tour wrapped up with dinner in the restaurant atop Toronto's CN Tower (see photo at the top of this post). It happened to be the night of Game 7 of the World Series, at the adjacent Rogers Centre.

 

Cathy took this photo of eager fans entering before the game. They would have looked less happy coming out, after the LA Dodgers won 5-4 in 11 innings.

Cathy has posted many more photos from the trip on her Facebook page.

Dan & Julie visit Toronto for a concert and some sight-seeing

It started with browsing concert listings. Julie noticed that Sheryl Crow was on tour and said that was an artist she'd like to see sometime. One of the dates was in Toronto, and Dan said that was a city he'd like to see sometime. Before long they'd booked concert tickets, flights, a hotel - plus baseball tickets - for a quick 60-hour visit to Canada's largest city.

Arriving on a Friday night, they checked into their hotel near the airport, navigated public transit downtown and strolled around the Harborfront area. On their way to the Rogers Centre baseball stadium, they checked out the outdoor Toronto Railway Museum and had dinner at one of the restaurants in the former Canadian Pacific roundhouse.

Despite being fans of the AL East rival Yankees and Orioles, Dan and Julie enjoyed watching the Toronto Blue Jays play the Texas Rangers - and win in exciting, come-from-behind fashion, 6-5.

 

On Saturday, the couple took a ferry across Toronto's Inner Harbor to Ward's Island, one of a group of islands that have a mix of parkland, small residential neighborhoods, an amusement park and a small airport. They strolled through the park, had lunch at a cafe alongside the main harbor, and walked through a neighborhood of quaint old houses before ferrying back downtown.

Making the most of their limited time, D&J then checked out the shops along the cobblestone, pedestrian-only streets of the Distillery District, with music in the background from a bandstand in a central plaza.

Then it was time to call a Lyft to get to the opposite side of the city for dinner and the Sheryl Crow concert at the Great Canadian casino complex. (Side note: The only highway through downtown Toronto, the Gardiner Expressway, seemed perpetually jammed.)

Photo from Great Canadian Entertainment

On Sunday, they continued their tourist-ing by returning downtown and visiting the Royal Ontario Museum. They spent the morning in the First People's gallery with its collection of native artifacts, including canoes and kayaks, and part of the afternoon in the Earth's Treasures, Dawn of Life and Dinosaur exhibits.

After a walk around nearby Queens Park, they said farewell to Toronto, and they and their tired legs headed to the airport.

See many more photos, including trains, canoes and dinosaurs