No wooden clogs in Waterloo...

From Niagara-on-the-Lake we drove about 130km to Waterloo, a university town west of Toronto. This was why we were in Canada at all, to attend the "premiere" Canadian National Clogging Convention which was held at the Inn of Waterloo. Being their first ever, this convention was expected to be very well attended, and it was. There were said to be about 1000 attendees, including lots from the USA as well as good contingents from Australia (29 of us), Germany and the Czech Republic.

Why we were in Waterloo - some of the thousand strong attendees at the premiere Canadian National Clogging convention.

The Convention was a roaring success, and went like clockwork, run by a Canadian dance teacher, Judy Waymouth, who seems to enjoy heroic status. The large numbers really stretched the resources of the Inn, but in the end, everything went smoothly and to time. Congratulations to the organisers! The event scored coverage on the local CTV News, but all cloggers were amazed to hear the anchor refer to "wooden shoes", reinforcing what seems to be a global misunderstanding of the activity. Cloggers don't wear wooden clogs and never did (according to the gurus), they use steel double-taps on dance shoes, although possibly wooden taps in the past. According to Jeff Driggs, "the word clog comes from the Gaelic, and means 'time'. Clogging is a dance that is done in time with the music - to the downbeat usually with the heel keeping rhythm." The local TV station did not do its research! More of our Clogging Convention photographs here.

Aussie cloggers at the Canadian National Convention

This very talented local family at the farmers' market also appeared at the Convention meet and greet party.

Waterloo itself is a pleasant and modern city, the 10th largest in Canada with a population of about half a million. After granting the first nation Iroquois rights to the region in 1784 after the tribe assisted the British in the American war of independence, much of it then got sold to a New Yorker who then, broke, had to sell it to new settlers, mostly Mennonites escaping the USA after the war. By 1816, Waterloo township was incorporated (named after the obvious), and German immigrants moved in, followed by others.

Waterloo's new ION light rail passes our hotel.

Waterloo Park is the "jewel" of the city and features delightful bush tracks like this one.

The Mennonite township of St Jacobs.

Harvest and floral displays are everywhere in this region.

Grey skies, but the ducks enjoy the Canestoga River as it runs through St Jacobs.

Mennonites still comprise a significant community around Waterloo, mostly in the township of St. Jacobs. Mennonites, a particular Christian sect, seem to renounce modern ways in their practice of non-violence and tolerance. They wear characteristic conservative clothes and can be seen travelling around St. Jacobs (at some speed) in black, enclosed, horse-drawn carriages. We met some Mennanites in a tiny store near Ontario's only surviving covered bridge at West Montrose, and found them to be friendly and welcoming, and very happy to sell some of their delicious bakery produce!

Mennonite family driving through St Jacobs.

Local crafts, many rather irreverent, were available in this very rustic store in St Jacobs.

Very friendly Mennonite staff ran this corner store in West Montrose.

Very old fashioned and crowded appearance inside the Lost Acre Variety store.

At West Montrose, the last surviving covered bridge in Ontario, 1881.

Also in St. Jacobs is Canada's largest year-round farmers' market, on twice a week, absolutely packed at the time of our visit, with lots of tempting things (including fast food) on offer. From here we heard, and then saw but only at a distance, the historic and restored Waterloo Central Railway, apparently run by volunteers.

The Farmers Market at St Jacaobs is the largest in Canada.

A fine market building, but we discovered that it's brand new, the previous one burnt down in 2013.

Produce vendor in the St Jacobs farmers market.

Proudly proclaiming Canadian produce!

Always keen for a selfie.

It wouldn't be a proper farmers market without some livestock to pat.

Corn fields, silos and the classic red barns.

The historic Waterloo Central Railway has a steam engine, but we only saw it at a distance.

This railway apparently had its track rights restricted by Waterloo's brand new light-rail line (opened only in June this year) which seems to be supplementing an already excellent city public transport system. The light-rail has a station in Waterloo Park, claimed to be a "jewel" of the city, and certainly a large and nice green space with pleasant walking tracks through undeveloped bush, as well as large green spaces.

Not the Falls...

We spent three nights in and around the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL), not to visit the falls which we have seen before in both summer and winter, but to have a look at the Welland Canal which is a shipping canal joining Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, dropping 100m and bypassing the rather unnavigable Niagara Falls. We were lucky enough to be able to meet up with an old friend and his wife, and they hosted us handsomely during our visit.

The Whirlpool, downstream of Niagara Falls.

The drive to NOTL in our rented Hyundai Tucson was mostly along the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way), and then it's about 15km to the historic town. Along these roads, we observed many, many wineries, often with classy looking tasting centres and restaurants attached. We learned that there are over 50 wineries in the district. One which seemed to be very popular was named after Wayne Gretzky, partly owned by this famous ice hockey star.

NOTL is one of the oldest settlements in (what is now called) Canada. The British settled here in 1781, but Native American tribes had lived here for hundreds of years previously. In 1792, NOTL (under a different name) was capital of Upper Canada, now Ontario. Here was fought the Battle of Fort George in the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain.

Niagara-on-the-Lake's cenotaph and floral display.

NOTL is now a delightful village off the side of the QEW freeway to Niagara Falls, but it is not off the tourist trail. We found it to be crowded, but our hosts said "you should see it in summer!" Parking was at a premium, and there was also a steady stream of shuttle buses coming in from nearby hotels and maybe a coach parking lot nearby. We walked around the coast, which is the outlet of the Niagara River (downstream from the falls) into Lake Ontario. Across the river is Fort Niagara in New York state, and (a plaque indicates that) NOTL is a major departure point for long-distance swimmmers to brave the 50km or so across to Toronto.

The Prince of Wales Hotel is the standout building in a town of beautiful homes and shops.

Outside the village central, the town is surrounded by splendid houses on manicured lawns and gardens, or working our way upstream, we climbed onto the Niagara escapement to a wonderful park at Queenston Heights where there is a huge column commemorating British General Isaac Brock who died in the otherwise successful defence of NOTL from the Americans in 1813.

Fort Niagara in NY, USA as viewed across the river from Niagara-on-the-Lake.

For this guided tour, NOTL was enduring record high temperatures for October (about 30C) and the high humidity made it quite oppressive, but by about 4:30pm a torrential rainstorm had us scurrying into an Irish Pub with great Titanic memorabilia. The next day was much cooler, and it rained lightly throughout.

View of the winding Niagara River at it gently approaches Lake Ontario.

Garden, fountain and restaurant at Queenston Heights.

Detail of a huge columnar memorial to General Isaac Brock who died in the 1812 battle fought here, against an American invasion.

The reason we came to this part of Ontario was to have a look at the Welland Canal which enables ocean going merchant ships to navigate up to Lake Erie having come into Lake Ontario from the Atlantic Ocean via the St Lawrence Seaway. The canals joining these lakes and others is called the Great Lakes Seaway, and the whole Great Lakes system is unimaginable to Australians whose fresh water lakes are lucky to have any water at all! Collectively, the Great Lakes contain 21% of the world's surface fresh water.

The Welland Canal dates back to 1824, the present configuration being the fourth and was opened in 1932. It features 8 locks in its 43km length, and a drop of 99.5m between the two lakes. A fifth canal with a single superlock was planned and mapped but never constructed.

Map of Welland Canal. Flow is nothwards. Map credit: By Agyle - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2513802

Ship passes under this 1928 vertical lift bridge on Glendale Ave.

We were lucky to see the Welland Canal and its locks and bridges in action. We had a front row seat to see an upbound (southbound) cargo ship automatically open the vertical lift bridge on Glendale Avenue. There's a big safety margin in this process, and it delayed the road traffic for 15 minutes plus. And we saw a downbound ship pass through the No.3 Lock where there is a major visitors' centre and viewing platform. And another ship open the alligator jaw bridge on Queenston St, so we were pretty happy to have seen so much action on this pretty well unheard of (to Australians, anyway) shipping corridor.

Large ship steams carefully into Lock 3 on its outbound journey from the Great Lakes.

The Welland Canal has a visitors' centre and viewing station at Lock 3.

Upbound vessel causes the bascule bridge on Queenston St to open. The Queen Elizabeth Way avoids the interruption.

All in all, a pretty nice visit to the Niagara-on-the-Lake district, made really enjoyable by the hospitality of our friends. And, we're hoping to have finally fought off our jet lag. Our next stop will be the Canadian Clogging Convention in Waterloo.

Lost in the City...

Almost 30 hours after we left our home in Sydney, we checked into a hotel in Toronto. It was 1:00am local time, so it was truly wonderful to fall into a large, comfortable bed and set about mending the inevitable jet lag from a 10 hour time change! Our two flights were good, but the 6 hour layover in Dallas-Fort Wirth in Texas was particularly painful. We spent 4 nights in Toronto (following that first, very late one) and deliberately didn't schedule too much. Being old-timers, we know how to relax and try to align the body clock with the sun. The formula is early to bed, slow to rise, don't nap during the day and supplement with drugs!

Our downtown hotel with indoor-outdoor pool.

Osgoode Hall, a maze of historically significant downtown Toronto building now mostly law offices and courthouses.

Climate change protest by the youth of Toronto was very well attended.

Maybe Toronto's most iconic building, the old courthouse.

Heritage building preserved within the giant (new) atrium of Brookfield Place.

City Hall overlooks Nathan Phillips Park but it appears that the city can't afford to illuminate the Toronto sign properly.

Toronto is Canada's biggest city and the capital of the province of Ontario. We stayed in the CBD, and found it to be an ultra-modern metropolis. With its mix of sleek glass towers and classical stone buildings over a hundred years old, we can understand why movie-makers choose here as a contemporary large city location. We got around on the an excellent public transportation system integrating two subway lines, a fabulous network of trams (street-cars) and buses going everywehere - economical and very easy to navigate.

Toronto has a great light-rail network.

Harbourfront aparments facing south over Lake Ontario.

Toronto's icon, the CN Tower.

Setting off on a Lake Ontario sunset cruise.

We particularly enjoyed walking around the Harbourfront District and through urban bushland, and Toronto seems to have undertaken some substantial industrial rebirthing projects in the Old Distillary District and, a bit further out of town, the Evergreen Brickworks. Both were very popular, despite light rain, especially the latter which seems to be way off the tourist trail.

Large waterfront mansion overlooking Balmy Beach.

Balmy Beach on freshwater Lake Ontario, with the Toronto CBD in the dim distance.

Inside the York Distillery in the Old Distillery District.

Indian cultural demonstration on the cobblestones of the renovated Distillery District.

Ravine near the old Toronrto suburb of Rosedale.

The Evergreen Brickworks is a great restoration of an old industrial site.

Bluegrass band Onion Honey entertained us at the Evergreen Brickworks market day.