An Ontario favourite

Kingston is located slightly southwest of Ottawa just on the border to the U.S. Robert had been here a few years ago and had good memories of the city but for Victoria it was the first time. Kingston did not disappoint as we found the city wonderfully cute, old, historic and beautiful. As Kingston actually used to be the capital of Canada before the capital was moved to alternate betwen Montreal and Toronto and finally queen Victoria decided that the permanent location would be Ottawa, the town has lots of old historic buildings and landmarks. We walked past the house that used to be the residence of Canada's first prime minister sir John A MacDonald and saw many other beautiful buildings, houses and churches. The weather was beautiful which made the town even more appealing!

We stayed two nights at an inn in a really nice old building, walking distance from the city centre. Our first evening, we explored Kingston's pub life and found a great pub which according to Robert served the best beer he has had so far in Canada. That's no insignificant compliment coming from a guy who loves his beer!

The brewery even had their own car in front.

The following day the sun was shining and we went on to see more of Kingston. We strolled down to the harbour where we found an old locomotive in front of which Robert had to pose:

The view of the docks and the water was amazing:

We went inside the big cathedral which had a nice ceiling:

Most museums were closed for the season, but since Robert has a certain interest for the military and Kingston is the home to the Royal Military College of Canada, we drove out to take a look. Completely open to the public, we were able to walk around on the area and the old buildings which were beautiful. We kind of expected somebody to tell us to keep out, but it seemed to be a regular tourist attraction and nobody said a word about the two strangers strolling around. A guy even asked us for directions as if we looked like we knew what we were doing!!!

Robert was happy to find a tank that he could climb up on (yes, there was a sign saying 'no climbing' but that just made it so much more exciting!)

Yes, Kingston definitely made a good impression on us and we both agree that it's probably the nicest city in Ontario we've seen! We will now head towards Quebec city for more historic sightseeing and hopefully some good food!

written by  Victoria & Robert on November 13, 2009 from Ottawa, Canada
from the travel blog: Across Canada
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