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Monday November 13, 2006 (20:07) | Travel
Toronto – a fantastic and world class city. I have made Toronto home for some time now and I am always in awe of what this place has to offer its residents and visitors.
I have spent a lot of time wandering through various parts of the city with my camera. I love photographing the major landmarks – and as well – the things off of the beaten track. There is so much so see and be seen.
I leave you with a few “different” images of our fair city. If you live here (or want to visit), get out and explore it… it is worth it!
Wednesday October 25, 2006 (20:51) | Travel
If you’re a regular reader of this blog (I believe there are a couple of you out there!) you’ll notice that I haven’t posted in a little while. That is because I took out a little time between weddings to visit one of my favourite places on the planet: Tuscany.
We stayed in a little hill top town called San Gimignano which was just spectacular. And as you can see from the following photographs, the autumn colours were just beginning.
Italy is a culture obsessed with enjoying life, great food and fine wine. Is it any wonder why I love this place? The locals are so relaxed… and I simply enjoy observing the people.
There are many stunning churches in Italy. We made a day trip to Pisa to visit the duomo, baptistry and the famous leaning bell tower. The tower is now open visitors after engineers stablized it from leaning any further (and falling down). The image of the duomo you see is from the upper floor of baptistry and yes, that is the leaning tower in the background (aside: it rained very heavily about 5 minutes after I took this shot).
We spent the last 2 days in Florence – home of the Renaissance and Michelangelo. What a wonderful place. You can see the Arno River flowing through Florence and no visit is complete without seeing Ponte Vecchio (Italian for “old bridge”).
It was a lovely break… and I know it won’t be long before another visit is in order!
Tuesday October 10, 2006 (14:20) | Travel
Autumn. It is by far my favourite season of the year. Why you might ask? It is because of the colour!
My wife and I decided to take a short visit to the Forks of the Credit, just north of Toronto for a few hours to get away from city life… and we were well rewarded by what autumn had to offer. The colourful leaves do not stay around for very long -and- it is always amazing to see them every year.
So, take a walk around the city and the country and take in all of the colour. I leave you with a couple more images…
Tuesday July 25, 2006 (20:09) | Nature, Travel
A little while back, I made a visit to the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara. If I could describe it in one word: stunning!
I had no idea there were so many varieties of butterflies. From really small to … HUGE. And so many colours!
So, if you are ever in the Niagara region, it is well worth a visit. I know I’ll be back again…
Tuesday July 11, 2006 (20:33) | Nature, Travel
I have always been fascinated by flowers. Once in a while I’ll grab my camera and a lens and head out for a walk around the neighbourhood. And when I return home, I usually find that the majority of my shots are of flowers.
Flowers are amazing. They do not require much of us… just some water, sunshine and some soil. They grow whether we admire them or not. They just do what they do – be flowers.
My wife has a major green thumb and a passion for gardening. So our deck is adorned with lots of flowers this summer. I’m usually a pretty busy guy with work and all – and have found myself taking a few moments each day to check out our flowers. I don’t know exactly what it is about them that enthralls me – I just know I can be around flowers for hours.
So, next time you are out and about, don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers. I suspect you’ll be glad you did!
Tuesday July 4, 2006 (14:05) | Nature, Travel
During the Canada Day weekend, my wife and I did something a little different – we decided to explore Canada a little more and went to St. John’s, Newfoundland. Of course, we’ve heard all of the jokes about fish and Screech (it is a local dark rum which accurately reflects the reaction you have upon drinking it) and wanted to learn more about our most easterly province first hand.
Anne and I stayed at Angel House Heritage Inn in St. John’s. The owners, Patrica and Russell, took possession of the B&B in late 2005 and have completely and very beautifully renovated the house. It was an absolute joy staying there – not to forget, I think I gained a few pounds with their gourmet breakfasts each morning!
One thing I really enjoyed about their property was the garden. They have an acre of land which contained hundreds of Lupins (which I love), Foxglove and many other lovely species of plants and flowers. One could literally get lost in there.
We spent a day down in Witless Bay. From here you can go visit the Ecological Reserve where we were able to see North Atlantic Puffins (cute little guys, eh?) and Humpback Whales. They were quite the sight!
Oh yes, I must not forget Melissa, our tour guide, musician and our boat’s local comedienne!
We also made a visit to Cape St. Mary’s Bird Sanctuary in the southern part of the province, a 3 hour drive from St. John’s. It is literally several steep cliffs (some of the steepest I’ve ever seen) covered in birds, primarily Gannetts. Funnily enough, we had to wear our raincoats as it was easy to get “rained” upon even though it was a clear sky that day… so as you can probably guess, they weren’t raindrops falling on our heads. Good thing cows don’t fly.
It was a short visit and we’re glad we made the trip. We Canadians live in a beautiful country and I encourage all of you to get out and see it!
