dimanche, mars 25, 2007
it's unforgettable now that we've come this far
It was a roadtrip weekend for me. Devin and I headed south and spent a night in Kingston, Canada's first capital city. The weather was rainy and cold yesterday, then grey today, but it was still an enjoyable journey. I was surprised how much I liked the city of Kingston. It's smaller than I expected, and felt comfortably manageable because of that. Some photos are here.
We seemed to luck out on restaurants and bars - last night the lady at the front desk of the hotel recommended a lovely place just across the street (which was great since we were walking and it was raining lots) called Wooden Heads. They had fabulous wine, delicious tapas (chicken skewers with spicy and peanut Thai sauces), and impressive gourmet pizza (what makes a pizza "gourmet"?).
After dinner we wandered down the street and selected a random pub that suited us perfectly. It was the Merchant Taphouse, a mid-sized pub with a relaxed atmosphere. The band that played was very talented, taking requests and having fun improvising throughout each of the songs. At one point they segued into "Hell's Bells" after the section of American Pie that goes "the church bells all were broken". It was actually pretty funny. The pub was filling up with student-y types by this point - Queen's kids, maybe..?
A visit to Kingston is of course an opportunity to visit some historical sites. Throughout the downtown area there are very cool, very old limestone buildings, and miscellaneous museums and monuments. Given the short duration of the visit, though, we didn't explore too extensively, other than a bit of strolling and shopping on Princess Street, and a visit to the Cataraqui Cemetery to see the burial site of Sir John A. Macdonald.
I don't know if it's morbid, but I find cemeteries kind of fascinating these days. They just seem so filled with history and the personal stories of many people - I wander around reading names and dates and whatever else people have included on their grave markers and it intrigues me.
I'm going to have to re-visit Kingston in the nicer months. Seems like it could be quite beautiful seeing it when it warms up more, when Lake Ontario isn't frozen over, and when it isn't raining... | ¶ 7:28 p.m.
It was a roadtrip weekend for me. Devin and I headed south and spent a night in Kingston, Canada's first capital city. The weather was rainy and cold yesterday, then grey today, but it was still an enjoyable journey. I was surprised how much I liked the city of Kingston. It's smaller than I expected, and felt comfortably manageable because of that. Some photos are here.We seemed to luck out on restaurants and bars - last night the lady at the front desk of the hotel recommended a lovely place just across the street (which was great since we were walking and it was raining lots) called Wooden Heads. They had fabulous wine, delicious tapas (chicken skewers with spicy and peanut Thai sauces), and impressive gourmet pizza (what makes a pizza "gourmet"?).
After dinner we wandered down the street and selected a random pub that suited us perfectly. It was the Merchant Taphouse, a mid-sized pub with a relaxed atmosphere. The band that played was very talented, taking requests and having fun improvising throughout each of the songs. At one point they segued into "Hell's Bells" after the section of American Pie that goes "the church bells all were broken". It was actually pretty funny. The pub was filling up with student-y types by this point - Queen's kids, maybe..?
A visit to Kingston is of course an opportunity to visit some historical sites. Throughout the downtown area there are very cool, very old limestone buildings, and miscellaneous museums and monuments. Given the short duration of the visit, though, we didn't explore too extensively, other than a bit of strolling and shopping on Princess Street, and a visit to the Cataraqui Cemetery to see the burial site of Sir John A. Macdonald.I don't know if it's morbid, but I find cemeteries kind of fascinating these days. They just seem so filled with history and the personal stories of many people - I wander around reading names and dates and whatever else people have included on their grave markers and it intrigues me.
I'm going to have to re-visit Kingston in the nicer months. Seems like it could be quite beautiful seeing it when it warms up more, when Lake Ontario isn't frozen over, and when it isn't raining... | ¶ 7:28 p.m.
