Friday, November 15, 2013

A Cruise to The Thousand Islands

A baby will not change our travelling habits, my wife and I had decided, when we found out we were having our first born. We will still travel the world like when we were first married.

Yeah, about that. That boast went the same way as "I will not resort to using television to get my kid to eat" and "my kid will not throw a temper tantrum".

So this summer, while deciding on a place to visit near home and with not much preparations, we decided to take the Thousand Islands Cruise near Kingston, Ontario. Now, Kingston is a great Canadian city not too far from Toronto (about 2 and half hours of driving), but the better Thousand Island cruises depart from Gananoque, which is about another half an hours driving. So, three hours, not too bad, we thought.

Cue a huge traffic accident (a truck rollover) that blocked traffic all across the province, and we arrived five hours after schedule to catch the 3 pm cruise.


The cruise ships were huge, and since this was the middle of the week (did I mention I was on vacation), we had the whole ship mostly to ourselves. Which was good for the toddler so he could walk run about, and bad for us as I wanted to just curl up and sleep, not chase after a baby. But then we imprisoned strapped him safely him in his stroller as he went to sleep, and we could enjoy the beautiful scenario that is The Thousand Islands.




The islands (there's actually more than a thousand, believe it or not!) were mostly privately owned, and we saw the houses (and resorts) of the rich and famous as we cruised by. Oh, to have an island of your own! The famous Kirrin Island of the Famous Five fame (Enid Blyton fans will get this) came to mind.

The cruise ship stopped at the Boldt Castle. Since the Castle is on an American island (the islands are between US and Canada), only those allowed to enter USA could visit it. Which included any Canadians on the boat, but you had to have your passport). We had chosen not to do the castle, as it wasn't very stroller friendly, so we just admired the view from the outside. To think, at one time, this was the property of just one man!


Of course, we were not the only ones enjoying the water on a lovely summer day.



The next morning we spent a bit of time visiting some of Kingston's other tourist attractions. These included Bellevue House, the residence of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A Macdonald. it was interesting to see how simply he lived, for a man of his importance.





 
 Of course no visit to Kingston would be complete without trying Chef Rahim's biryani. Halal food was pricier in Kingston as compared to Toronto, but it rounded off what was an excellent weekend visit.


Amongst other attractions that we didn't visit as I had been there previously is Queen's University. If you are in Toronto and looking for an interesting day trip or a weekend trip, Kingston is highly recommended. 

2 comments:

'liya said...

I remember doing this with my parents in the summer, and planning with my sister which island we would own when we were older... *sigh*

mezba said...

Liya, you only need a few million! Just saying ...