Europe in Ontario 2021: Day 4 - Goderich, Bayfield

On the final day of our “Europe in Ontario” road trip, in addition to stopping for photos at several more “European road signs”, our main destinations were Goderich and Bayfield,  two towns along the shores of Lake Huron, with a quick stop in between to see the Laithworthe Apple Park statues, before heading back home to Toronto.

The town of Goderich has a unique layout consisting of an octagonal piazza on which the Superior Court of Justice, Courthouse Park, the Town Square and the Goderich Farmers Market reside.  Shops, art galleries, cafes and restaurants line Courthouse Square, the road that encircles the octagon, while eight smaller roads act as spokes that emanate outward from each of the eight sides.  Running diagonally between the four directional roads named North, East, South and West, are Hamilton, Kingston, Montreal, and Colborne Streets. To the west of the downtown core lies the shores of Lake Huron with beaches, parks, walking trails, marinas and a spit where Compass Minerals’ Goderich Salt Mine is located, 1800 feet under lake Ontario and the largest underground salt mine in the world.

Built in 1954 in the Art Deco style, the Supreme Court of Justice is the current courthouse for Huron County, replacing the previous Italianate-styled courthouse which was destroyed by fire.  Courthouse Park was rebuilt in 2011 after it was devastated by a tornado.  A performance stage sits in the park, with a roof designed to resemble the overturned, partially decayed hull of a shipwreck after being tossed to shore, acting as a tribute to the sea-faring life of people from Lake Huron.

Traversing around the circumference of the octagon, we found two impressive-looking historic buildings.  The stone structure with Flemish-like gable, which currently houses the Livery Theatre, was originally Polley’s Livery Stable, a blacksmith shop built circa 1840.  The century-old Victorian-styled Hotel Bedford offers 35 rooms, a restaurant and entertainment.  Further along the Courthouse Square, the shop Military Rose, which sells antiques, gifts and military nostalgia, looked interesting but was unfortunately closed so we could only look through the window.  We wanted to go to the hipster coffee shop Cait’s Café for a quick snack, but apparently so did everyone else in town since it was too busy to get into.

Following North Street extending out of the octagon, we found the Huron County Museum where a couple of tanks sit on the front lawn.  One was covered with poppies in recognition of the upcoming Remembrance Day, while another was a memorial for the troops who fought and died in Afghanistan between 2001-2014.   Further on, the Huron Historic Gaol dates back to 1842 and was a working prison until 1972.  The jail and adjoining 20th Century governor’s house is open to the public from May to October.  Sadly we were visiting in November and the building was closed for the season.  Wandering around the residential streets, we saw several beautiful homes with architectural features that I love, including turrets, circular porches, eyebrow windows and widow’s walks.

Heading west towards our lunch spot on the shores of Lake Huron, we stopped by Lions Harbour Park.  We only had time for a quick peek and missed the playground, band shell, the view of the harbour and the stairs leading down to Goderich Cove Beach.  But we did get to see the whimsical totems of Celtic characters that were carved out of trees destroyed by the tornado of 2011.  Created by  renowned chainsaw carver Bobbie Switzer and funded by the Lion’s Club of Goderich, the works include a giant carving of Irish King Brian Boru wielding an axe, and a Lion emerging from a tree.  Another tree serves as a memorial to Norman Leberge, a salt mine employee who was the only fatality of the 2011 tornado, which also injured 35 others, some severely.

The location for our lunch was a restaurant whose 1907 building once served as the Canadian Pacific Railway Train Station for the Guelph to Goderich rail line.  The CPR ceased passenger service in 1959 and freight service in 1988.  In 2013, the entire 400 ton, triple brick heritage building was raised, placed on a flat truck and moved 250 meters closer to the shores of Lake Huron. 

The rail station was restored and turned into the Beach Street Station Restaurant, but still retained many references to its original function.  This included the X-shaped railway crossing sign with the restaurant's name on it, the image of an old steam engine in the company logo, and the historic photos of the building’s past as a train station lining the walls inside the restaurant.  Inside there are several dining areas including an ornate rotunda on one end of the building and a large dining area with stunning views of the lake on the other.  In addition to the cool experience of dining in a former train station, the food was quite good.  For appetizers, we shared the breaded shrimp and a bowl of a delicious jalapeno, stout and cheddar soup that warmed us up on a chilly day by the lake.  For our mains, we each had breaded lake perch, continuing the tradition that we started since the first day of our four-day road trip, where every day we ate fresh Lake Huron fish.  We would like to dine here again in the summer months when the outdoor patio would be open with even better views of the lake.

After lunch, we took a walk along part of St. Christopher Beach before heading back towards town.  In the distance, we saw the machinery of the rock salt mine and processing plant which produces the Sifto table salt that we buy in the supermarkets.  We walked up steep flights of stairs to reach Lighthouse Park, where the 20-foot-tall lighthouse constructed in 1845 still stands.  Its light has a focal plane of 150 feet above Lake Huron.  In November 1913, two major storm fronts converged on the Great lakes, creating hurricane force winds and 35-foot waves.  Eight freighters and over 200 crew members were lost including the Wexford, which went down off the coast of Goderich.  A memorial sculpture marking this tragic event depicts a freighter being overcome by waves.  We saw signs for a Marine Heritage walk and a Maitland Walking Trail around the area that we will explore when we return to this area.

Leaving Goderich and before heading to Bayfield, we stopped at the George Laithworth Apple Park to look a large field full of whimsical, folksy carved concrete sculptures.  Created between 1920-1952, many of the statues were weathered and the paint had faded or worn away, but they were still fun, well defined figures based on biblical, historical, literary or comic characters.   Although we had read that the current owners of this private property allowed people to roam around get a closer view of the works, we still felt rather shy about it since there was no sign indicating this was OK.  Since we were in a rush to get to Bayfield and the lighting was not the best for photos, we quickly took a few snapshots from the road and continued on.  The next time we are in the area, we may return and spend some more time here.

Bayfield is a pretty little town just 30km north of Grand Bend, where we had stayed the previous night.  On the way into town, we passed by the Bayfield Town Hall, which was built for $660 in 1881, some interesting houses, the Clan Gregor Square Park, and a sign for a 2.5km Heritage walk that would have led us to 8 historical storyboards, as well as the beach and marina.  Being short on time, we settled for walking along the charming Main Street where there were many quaint shops.  Unfortunately since it was a Monday in November, many of them were closed.  Still we had fun peering through the windows and visiting the shops that were open.  We could see the potential of this town and made a note that we needed to return during the high season.

We looked into the Village Bookshop, a small, well-stocked book store with a good selection of local and regional authors.  We spotted the novel “The State of Terror”, a  #1 best selling thriller co-written by Canadian mystery writer Louise Penny and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  This was the next book selection for our book club, so we decided to purchase a copy here and support a local business.  There were quaint and kitschy knickknack and décor shops such as “The Spotted Cow”, “Bayberry Shop”, “Nab It”, “Shared Times” and “The Village Guild”.  We saw some cool ceramic planters shaped as heads, lazy-susan end tables and hats matching cleverly embroidered words and images  such as the “Cash” with an image of a cow, or “Flirt” and an image of a parrot.

We really wished that the Martens Art Gallery was open, but at least we could peek through the windows, as well as inspect the outdoor art that was left in front of the gallery.  When we return to Bayfield, we will definitely pick a day when this gallery is open so that we look more closely at the art inside.

Standing tall in the middle of Main Street is a reproduction of “The Sailor”,  a replica of  wooden sculpture of Captain Harry, the “cherished watchman of Main Street”.  Originally created in the late 1980s, weather had worn away at the first sculpture, but the Bayfield Historical Society funded its re-creation.  There was a plaque honouring the town’s namesake, Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield (1795-1885), a hydrographer, geologist and surveyor who mapped Lakes Erie and Huron.  There were a few interesting accommodations that we could stay at next time we visit, including “The Little Inn of Bayfield” which has been in operation since 1862 (originally named “The Lakeview”).

Leaving Bayfield to head home to Toronto, we stopped by the road sign for Lisbon, Ontario. This was the final destination of our four day “Europe in Ontario” road trip that saw us stop in little towns, or in cases like this, just a road sign in the middle of nowhere, all named after famous cities and capitals in Europe.  This road trip also became our longest “vacation” and the furthest afield that we had ventured from home since the start of the pandemic over 1.5 years ago.  Hopefully things will continue to get back to normal and we can eventually start traveling abroad “for real” again.  In the meantime, we are enjoying exploring Ontario as we never had before and in 2022, we can even claim a “Ontario Staycation Tax Credit” while we do so.  We will definitely return to this area by the shores of Lake Huron during warmer months when we can cycle on the rail trails and do more hiking.

Europe in Ontario 2021: Day 2 & 3 - Port Dover, St. Thomas, London, Grand Bend

The second day of our “Europe in Ontario” road trip involved driving west from Port Colborne towards St. Thomas, where we would spend the night.  Even though it took longer to drive, we tried to stay as close to the shores of Lake Erie as possible for the best scenic views.  There is a great stretch on the initial section of Lakeshore Road West just outside of Port Colborne.  The ground was covered with leaves of gold and orange hues and since so many had fallen, we were able to see through the trees to spot the impressive homes at the backs of large properties. Continuing on, we had pretty views of Lake Erie to our left and quaint communities to our right.

Along the way, we stopped at Port Dover to repeat a regular ritual, which was to have the perch and pickerel lunch at the Erie Beach Hotel.  We like this lunch because not only do we get a good amount of nicely breaded fish, but it comes with 50’s styled salads such as horseradish Jello and fruit cocktail with marshmallow in mayo.  On past visits, a personal salad cart was rolled up to your table by a waitress who seemed right out of the old 80’s TV show Alice.  It was a large part of the fun of eating at this restaurant.  This time because of COVID restrictions, we were served our salads at the table on bowls and plates.  Although the food was still good, the experience was lacking in charm and whimsy by comparison.  After lunch, we continued to follow the shores of Lake Erie, hitting our first set of Ontario communities named after European cities, which I described in an earlier blog post.

Our final stop for the day was in the city of St. Thomas, just south of London, Ontario, to take a quick look at the Jumbo the Elephant memorial on Talbot Street. Captured in Sudan, Africa, Jumbo resided for years as a beloved pet in the London Zoo in England, until P.T. Barnum purchased him in 1882 to star in the Barnum and Bailey Circus’ “Greatest Show on Earth” in America.  The circus travelled across North America by train.  In September 1885 in St. Thomas, Ontario, while Jumbo was being led across the tracks back to his cage, a special (unexpected?) freight train appeared and struck the 11 ft tall, 7-ton animal.  Jumbo died within minutes.  To commemorate the 100th anniversary of this tragedy, the citizens of St. Tomas and Elgin County erected a majestic monument as a tribute to Jumbo.  We arrived at the memorial around dusk which was quite opportune since we could see the sun start to set and the lights around the sculpture lit up.  The combination made for quite the beautiful sight with the autumn leaves in the background seeming to shimmer.  A CN Rail caboose that accompanied the Jumbo monument acted both as a reminder of how he died, and doubled as a souvenir shop.

Originally the elephant monument was the only site that we planned to visit in St. Thomas before hunkering down for the night.  But as we were driving towards the memorial, I spotted people walking overhead along what looked like an elevated park, similar to the High Line Trail in Manhattan.  A quick Google search confirmed that an iconic railway bridge in St. Thomas had indeed been converted into Canada’s first elevated park and the entry point was just around the corner from the memorial.  In front of the entrance to the park was a wall covered with paintings of Jumbo the Elephant in different colours, thus linking these two St. Thomas tourist attractions.

The park sits on the 260 meter(853 feet)-long Michigan Central Railway Bridge which was in use from 1929-1996. It now provides a sculpture garden containing artwork and musical instruments, seating, gorgeous views of Kettle Creek Valley, and connects to forested walking/running trails to create a 6km (3.7 mi) Elevated Park Trail.  Since it was getting dark, we only had time to walk through the park section on the bridge, but we will definitely return another time to walk the entire trail.  The nice thing about rail trails are that they are relatively flat by nature since they originally had to support trains traveling on them.

On the third day of our road trip, we left our St. Thomas motel early in the morning and headed into London, Ontario.  Unlike the previous day when we ate a quick breakfast of home-brought fruit and oatmeal in our Port Colborne motel room, this morning we had something special in mind.  Rich had found a hipster diner called “The Early Bird” where we planned to enjoy a hearty breakfast which would hopefully tide us over until our 5pm dinner reservations that evening.  Based on our experiences trying to get into popular breakfast locations in Toronto, like Le Petit Dejeuner where people line up way before opening hours in order to score a table, we arrived at the Early Bird 20 minutes before opening time.  Not only was there no lineup in front of the diner, but there was no indication of activity within the darkened establishment and not a soul on the streets for blocks on end.  We went for a quick walk around the neighbourhood to look at some street art.  Returning about 12 minutes later, it still did not appear as the restaurant was preparing to open.  With 5 minutes to go before the specified opening time, I was starting to declare that we should go find somewhere else to eat, while we both were peering through the windows looking for any sign of life in there.  Imagine my surprise when we turned around and seemingly out of nowhere, there was a crowd forming behind us.  Apparently the locals knew the drill and understood exactly when to turn up.  A minute later, the lights were turned on in the diner and a hostess came out with a podium ready to check our vaccine passports and allow entry.  Because of Rich’s persistence, we were now first in line and scored the coveted nook by the window.  This quirky restaurant ended up to be one of our most memorable and enjoyable meals, but I had to spend the rest of the trip uttering those hallowed words that we both love to hear .. “You were right and I was wrong”.

Since we wanted a big breakfast so that we could skip lunch, we spurned the “Lighter Side” options but were nonetheless awed by the size of our meals.  I ordered the “Hash and Eggs” which consisted of crispy home fries with poached eggs, peppers, onions and an optional side of bacon, topped with hollandaise sauce!  Rich had the “Stacker” which was a huge stack of buttermilk pancakes with both bacon and peameal bacon (because why not?!?), sausage and sunny side eggs topped with syrup.  We also had orange and grapefruit mimosas since that is what you do when you are on vacation.  The Early Bird’s décor is so fun and funky!  I loved the skeletal mannequin and the busts with the rock band Kiss' makeup and Elvis’ hairstyle.

I took a wander around the diner, checking out all the eclectic posters, murals, paintings and small sculptures that covered every inch of every wall.  Given my hobby of collecting photos of interesting bathroom signs indicating men vs. women, I was sure that there would be something cool to find in this place.  Disappointingly, there wasn’t anything unusual for the bathroom signs which just said “Men” and “Women”, but the crazy art on the walls of the bathroom stalls was something to behold.

Following breakfast, I accompanied Rich on his trip down memory lane at the campus of Western University where he received his post-secondary education.  We toured the University and Middlesex colleges where he had some classes, the Student Centre that housed the pub where he hung out with his classmates and the D.B.Weldon Library where he studied and actually had a personal office in 4th year.

We also visited Sydenham Hall, the student residence where Rich stayed during first and second year.  He was actually able to point to the windows where each of his rooms were.  Western University is located on 455 hectares of land with the Thames river flowing through the campus’ Eastern section.  It is accessed from University Drive by crossing a bridge that spans the river, from which we watched the ducks and kayakers paddling by.  There are some pretty walking trails and including a section of the 110km Thames Valley Trail that we would like to cycle on one day.

Our next stop was the Museum London, an art and history museum established in 1940 with a collection containing 45,000 historical artifacts and 5000 artworks.  The museum is much larger than I expected and mostly displayed art pieces throughout the galleries, with one exhibition area in the basement devoted to the history of London.  The main exhibition was called “Taking the Long View”, featuring works from the museum’s permanent collection that reflect upon the city’s artists and community from mid-1800s through to the 2000s.  A special section is devoted to Paul Peel (1860-1892), one of London, Ontario’s most famous artists, known for his sweet depictions of small children.

 Other sections of this exhibit included “Faces of London”, “London Regionalism”, works by the Group of Seven, works on paper, Canadian abstraction, and contemporary art.  While the older paintings and portraits were arranged tightly in French salon style, the more contemporary works were given more space “to breathe”.  These more recent creations included sculptural and mixed-medium pieces that used materials such as neon lights and found objects.  I liked “meta-ness” of the iron-board shaped painting of an ironing board with a dress and iron.

Other exhibits on display during our visit included two cases containing vintage comics such as Johnny Canuck, and poignant black and white photographs by Stephen J. Thorne depicting the bravery and resilience of wounded soldiers.  We spent some time inspecting the “Labatt Collection”, highlighting Labatt Brewing Company’s 150 year history of brewing beer in the London area.  The collection included old bottles, bottle caps and coaster designs as well as various advertising campaigns.  I laughed out loud at the sardonic one featuring “Chuck & Di .. What you do after a bad sausage …”.   There were also news clippings detailing the 1934 kidnapping and subsequent release of Labatt president John Sackville Labatt for a large ransom that was promised but never paid.

The basement level of the museum contained historic artifacts from London’s past.  There was a 1953 album cover from The Four Chorders, a London-based barbershop quartet who were Ontario Barber Shop champions.  An wrought-iron sculpture is a tribute to Nancy Skinner (1938-2011) who contracted polio at age 9 leaving her paralyzed.  In 1970, she joined the disability rights movement to help make London, Ontario more accessible. Two pretty vases depict scenes celebrating the London and Port Stanley Railway that ran from 1856-1957, and the West London Streetcar in the mid-1890s traversing the Kensington Bridge that spanned the Thames River.  A cell ventilation grate formed part of the “new” London jail built in 1846.  It was interesting to see memorabilia from Western University including a replica of the 1940s Beanie cap that identified freshmen, a school jacket, and a fan inscribed with two popular courses – “Complete Business Course” for young men and “Complete Stenography Course” for young women.

Leaving London, we drove to Grand Bend, the last overnight stop of our road trip.  Our aim was to get there in time to experience what has been ranked by National Geographic as one of the 10 best sunsets in the world.  On the shores of Lake Huron, Grand Bend is a beach town that is hopping in the warm months, but fairly deserted on this cool November evening.  Although most of the shops and eateries were closed for the season, several souvenir shops selling  beach-wear and t-shirts were still open.  It was interesting to see early Christmas displays in front of stores selling surfing gear.  At Archie’s Surf Shop, I found a pretty lavender long-sleeved mock and Rich selected a blue t-shirt as souvenirs.  Continuing down Main Street, we headed towards the beach area.

On the boardwalk along side the Grand Bend Beach can be found the Rotary Community Stage and a snack bar with a lookout platform, with colourful murals painted on the walls.  There is a fun sculpture of a floating musical staff where you can ham it up by pretending to play the guitar or belt a tune in front of a microphone.

At the far end of the beach sits a pier with a lighthouse at the end of it.  This is obviously the popular spot to view the sunset, judging from the number of people gathered on that spit.  We found that we could see the sunset just as well from a covered pagoda further back, and had the added advantage of getting backlit shots of the people, the lighthouse and the birds that swooped down from above.  Not getting too close to a crowd was an extra COVID-precautionary benefit.  We stayed to watch the sun slowly set until it disappeared in the horizon, leaving a red glow in the distance.  For a final view, we climbed to the lookout platform and watched as the lighthouse pulsed with a green beacon.

Following our viewing of that spectacular sunset, we went about looking for somewhere to eat dinner. With the sun down and the crowd dispersed, even the few fast food joints on the Main St. strip that were previously open had now closed.  We were on the verge of driving out of town to pick up some soup and sandwiches from the Tim Hortons on the highway when we found Paddington’s Pub.  We were not expecting much at this point and were prepared for the typical pub fare.  To our surprise, their menu included a Cajun-spiced pickerel served with crispy mixed vegetables and pilaf rice.  As an even greater surprise, this ended up being one of the best meals we have had so far on our trip.

Europe in Ontario 2021: Day 1 - Port Colborne

The first day of our “Europe in Ontario” road trip was spent in Port Colborne, which is located east of Port Dover and west of Fort Erie.  This first stop was in part a scouting trip.  There is a 16km, relatively flat and paved multi-use path called “The Friendship Trail” that runs parallel to the north shore of Lake Erie between Port Colborne and Fort Erie.  Next summer, we would love to bring our bicycles and ride this trail, so we wanted to check out where it started from on the Port Colborne side.  This picturesque trail passes through farmland, villages, watersheds and quiet residential areas before connecting with Fort Erie and the Niagara River Residential Trail.  There also seem to be bike trails that follow north along the Welland Canal, so there are many cycling opportunities in this area.

Arriving in Port Colborne around 4pm, our plan was to check out the lift bridge that spans the Welland Canal, explore the shops on West Street (the main drag by the canal), then select a restaurant for an early dinner before heading off to a show at the Showboat Festival Theatre.  The Clarence Street Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge completed in 1929 to link the east and west sides of Port Colborne.  While the bridge is down, it provides an automobile roadway and pedestrian/cycling path across the canal.  There is a little control centre situated on top of the bridge, manned by an operator who looks out for ships and controls the raising and lowering of the bridge.

Using electric motors and counterweights, the bridge is raised 120 feet into the air to allow vessels to pass underneath to travel across the length of the canal. We were hoping to witness the raising and lowering of the bridge, which takes about 90 seconds each way, and to watch a ship go through. When we walked across the bridge, away from the main drag, I looked down the waterway and saw a ship in the far distance, but it seemed to be stationary.  Thinking it was too bad that there was no ship approaching, we continued on to the east side to check out the start of the Friendship trail.  Imagine our surprise when we returned to the bridge to cross back to the other side, just to find it raised up in the air, with lowered gates and flashing lights warning cars and pedestrians that they would need to wait..  That “stationary” ship was actually approaching, albeit at a snails pace!  We stood and watched as it finally came into view and very slowly passed under the lift bridge.  Once the ship was safely across, we watched as the bridge gingerly lowered back into place and traffic was allowed to flow through once again.

There were several interesting shops to check out on West Street before dinner.  We enjoyed wandering around Candy Safari, which was brimming with different varieties of both domestic and international candies, including some vintage brand names that invoked nostalgia.  We regretted not picking up a small bag of marmite-flavoured chips as a souvenir for our South African friend, who is fond of this savoury food spread that is a by-product of beer brewing. We also had fun browsing the Canalside Kitchen Store, since in addition to having practical, functional kitchen apparatus, it also has some kitschy items including a glass-blown fish teapot and salt and pepper shakers shaped as two smiling porcelain cats sprawled one atop the other.  The store also had some fun mugs and we might bought something to bring home with us, if we didn’t live in a condo with limited storage space.  The town was already decked out for Christmas.  I especially liked the spinning Santa Claus “behaviour” scale that ranged from Very Nice to Very Naughty to Out of Control.  We wanted to buy some treats from The Pie Guys to have for breakfast the next day. Unfortunately, almost everything was sold out by the time we got there and although they reopened at 9am the next day, they would not have their full array of options available for sale until 11am, by which time we would be long gone.  We settled for buying some packages of Gourmet Village orange hot chocolate, a flavour which we had never seen before.

We wanted to have an early dinner before attending the live theatre play that we had tickets for.  We chose the aptly-named Canalside Restaurant and Inn, located right next to the Clarence St. Bridge on the west side of the canal.  What caught our attention on the menu was the option of breaded Alaskan “Walleye” wings, or in Canadian terms, the meat under the fins of a pickerel.  Despite our intention of having perch and pickerel for lunch the next day in Port Dover, we could not turn down the opportunity of ordering the perch dinner since this is not a fish that is readily available in Toronto.  As it turned out, we ended up having either perch or pickerel for all of our main meals during this road trip.  The restaurant has a nautical theme with steering wheels, model ships and sailboats decorating the walls, and chandeliers shaped like boat propellers.  There were also some beautiful images of the lift bridge at night.

After dinner, we headed to the Showboat Festival Theatre in order to watch Canadian playwright Norm Foster’s romantic dramedy, Old Love.  The play follows the interactions between Bud, a salesman and Molly, his boss’ wife over 3 decades. Although there are multiple other characters in this story including Bud’s wife, Molly’s husband, as well as Molly’s son and daughter-in-law , the same two actors play all the roles including the progressively aging main protagonists.  They did a marvelous job differentiating between the various characters with a minor change of wardrobe and more importantly, changes in mannerisms and speech patterns.  When I looked at previous mountings of this 2008 play, I found ones where each distinct role was played by a different actor.  I’m not sure whether it was an artistic choice to use just two actors, or if this was dictated by COVID restrictions and limitations, but I thought it made the play much more interesting and gave the actors a larger challenge.

Before leaving Port Colborne early the next morning, we stopped by the Port Colborne Historic and Marine Museum to look at the outdoor displays, since the museum was not yet open.  The main building of the museum was once the 19th Century Georgian revival-styled home of the Williams family before it was donated to the town by Arabella Williams at the time of her death. A small cottage has been converted to a Teahouse which bears her name.  There is a logged schoolhouse and other buildings on the property.  As it was the week before Remembrance Day, the wrought-iron fence surrounding the property was decorated with many hand-crocheted poppies.  On the grounds, we found the wheelhouse from the 1946 steam tugboat Yvon Dupre Jr., which still contains all of its original equipment.  The tugboat was scrapped in 1972 and donated to the museum in 1975.  We also saw the 1871 anchor from the wreck of the propeller ship Raleigh which sank in 1911, the 1949 50-passenger lifeboat S.S. Hochelaga, and a very moving war memorial consisting of a ring of WWI rifles planted downward into the ground and topped with soldiers’ helmets.  Known as the “Battlefield Cross”, this configuration was used as grave markers for fallen soldiers on the battlefield.

Europe in Ontario 2021: 4-Day Road Trip

My husband Rich latched onto the idea of doing a “Europe in Ontario” road trip since there are so many cities, towns and villages within Ontario that have the same name as major cities in Europe.  I think the main appeal of this trip was his ability to tell and re-tell the same old tired joke that, in the middle of a pandemic, we would be traveling to Dublin, Zurich, Copenhagen, Brussels, Vienna, London and more, all in one weekend!  His thought was that we would drive up to each road sign (often in the middle of nowhere) to take a photo of each of us posing in front of the sign.  Indulging him on this goal, we planned a four-day road trip that would include visits to some interesting towns and villages, en route to each of these road sign destinations. We actually visited Paris, Ontario on a previous road trip which would have perfectly fit into the theme of this trek.

After spending our first day in Port Colborne (more on this in the next blog), the next day we stopped for lunch in Port Dover, then headed west across the northern shore of Lake Erie to reach the first set of road signs.  To make it more fun for myself, I tried to think of something we could bring along to represent each of the places.  The only thing that we had easily on hand was an orange to pose with at Seville and for Rich to show his Swiss wristwatch in Zurich.  For the rest, I downloaded some images onto Rich’s IPAD which I could hold up.  The images did not really show up in most of our photos, so I had to enhance them digitally after the fact.

When we arrived at our first road sign in Vienna, Ontario, I held up the image of a pork schnitzel similar to the one we ate years ago when we vacationed in Vienna, Austria.  Next we drove to where Google Maps thought that Seville would be.  Unfortunately, there was no “sign” of life (pun intended), let alone a road sign to mark the spot.  We drove a bit further in both directions but were disappointed not to find anything with the word Seville on it.  That evening, we sadly ate the orange that we had planned for the photo.  Luckily we did find the sign for Copenhagen where I held up the image of some cherry danishes.

When we arrived in London, Ontario on the third day of our trip, we knew better than to try to stop while cars were buzzing by at highway speeds.  Instead we found a tourism billboard and a graffiti work in the downtown area with the word “London” on each of them.  I posed in front of  the billboard while pretending to drink a cup of tea.  Sigh … the things one needs to do to amuse one’s husband!

We had a bit of a respite on the third day of our trip as we spent it exploring London. We were back at it on our fourth and final day, as we headed north along the eastern shore of Lake Huron.  At Zurich, Ontario, Rich proudly displayed his Swiss-made Omega watch.  In Dublin, I held up an image of a shamrock, while in Brussels our IPAD displayed an image of brussel sprouts, a vegetable crop which become popular in Belgium in the 16th Century.   

We initially had a scare at Dublin, thinking that like Seville, there was no road sign when we approached the area from the north-west.  However, unlike Seville, there was a bit of a main street in Dublin so we took photos with anything that we could find with the word Dublin on it.  We found the Dublin Mercantile, which was already decked out in full Christmas decor.  As we continued on to our next destination, we decided to take one final look back and there we found the road sign, which can only be seen when coming from the south-east direction!  Similarly in Brussels, we took an extra photo of a sign with the community's name on it, mostly because it was pretty and showed Brussels back in its glory days.

Brussels was once named the “prettiest village” in Ontario, but when we visited it felt a bit like a ghost town with many of the shops boarded up.  We did see a picture of the once elegant Queen’s Hotel, which was unfortunately demolished in 1986 after it fell into disrepair, and replaced by an IGA supermarket.  You can still see some of the elements of the village’s former glory in the architectural details of some of the older buildings that still remain.

By the time we arrived in Lisbon, our last road sign, we had driven a long way on small, dusty, gravel-filled dirt roads. There had not been much else in sight and I was starting to get tired of the whole concept.  As we watched Google Maps count down the kilometers left until we reached our destination and we still had not spotted any signs, Rich began to worry that this would be another “Seville” situation.  We finally glimpsed a sign just as we arrived at the crest of a hill.  It was a boring blue road sign as opposed to some of the prettier ones from before but after driving all this way, we were happy to see it.  Not only that, but there was already another pair standing in front of the sign taking their own photos.  Rich felt so vindicated that he was not the only one who thought this was a great idea.  He would have rushed out to converse and bond with his fellow “road sign seekers” but when they saw us approach, they quickly left sheepishly.  I held up an image of Portuguese tarts, Rich adopted one of his trademark “model poses” and with these final photos, we were done. 

We really lucked out on this trip, since we had decided that we were going forward with it “rain or shine”.  After an entire autumn where there was at least some amount of rainfall on most days of the week, we hit upon the only consecutive 4-day stretch of continuous sunshine.  It had been rainy the day before we left and rained a bit the day after we got home.  But during our trip, there were blue skies the entire way.

It was actually rather fun driving to each “European” destination, but don’t tell Rich or it will just encourage him!  He is already talking about how we should visit Moscow and Athens the next time we head out east towards Kingston and Ottawa.  I am hoping that by next summer or fall, we will be able to get back to really traveling to Europe and seeing the actual original cities that inspired our road trip.  Still, on this trip we passed by some cool sights and beautiful scenery.  There were views of beaches and shorelines along Lake Erie and Lake Huron, twisty roads enveloped by canopies of golden leaves, vast farmers’ fields shimmering in the setting sun, gigantic alien-like wind turbines spinning in the distance, and farms with massive grain silos. Near Auburn, Ontario, I made Rich turn the car around to get a closer look at and take a photo of an idyllic scene featuring a trio of cows grazing by a small pond with barns and a large silo in the background.

We spotted some interesting sculptures and lawn ornaments as we drove past various properties in rural Ontario. There was an elaborate, stylized metal cut-out of a winged dragon, a giant yellow chicken,  positioned in front of  Canadian flag, which was wearing a red WWI-styled aviator hat and googles, and a large teddy bear lounging in a vintage buggy. We saw funky mailboxes shaped like a large-mouthed fish and an entire cow (body and all!), as well as hand-painted mailboxes with quaint scenes of waterfront cottage decks and farm life and the red lever indicating that there was mail.  The deal that I have Rich is that he will stop the car to allow me to take a photo of anything that I find interesting along the road.  I guess he indulges me on our adventures, as much if not more than I indulge him! 😅

There were cool buildings and interesting structures to admire as we passed through various small villages and communities.  In Smithville Ontario, we found the former late19th Century railway station, which is now a Montessori pre-school.  Following the scenic roads that hugged the northern shore of Lake Erie between Port Colborne and Port Dover, we saw some pretty homes either on the waterfront or just across the road with a view of the water.  The houses were quite eclectic along the water, ranging from mansion-like structures to small modest cabins. Just south of Selkirk, we stumbled upon an abandoned cement silo that reminded me of a Roman ruin. En route to Port Stanley, we also passed by multiple trailer parks where the trailers ranged from mobile vehicles to ones converted into stationary homes with attached porches.

During our 4 day drive, we passed by many tiny villages, communities, beaches and conservation areas with a few that seemed interesting enough that we actually parked the car to explore them for a bit.  Just west of Port Colborne, we arrived at Morgan’s Point Conservation Area which has hiking trails through forests and prairies.  On a tight schedule to reach our road signs before dark, we did not have time to take advantage of these trails. But we did walk through a park area with spectacular autumn leaves to reach the rocky beach area from which we could see the houses lining the coastline that we would soon be driving past.

Another area that caught our attention was Dunnville, Ontario in the Haldimand County 35km west of Port Colborne.  We found several fun looking restaurants and stores that we would have loved to check out, but they were all closed when we arrived.  We peered into the windows of the Knowles Restaurant which looked like a classic old-fashioned diner with a gumball machine in front, round stools at the counter and the padded vinyl seats in the booths.  Displayed prominently in the front window was a plate featuring Yul Brenner in the character of the King of Siam from the musical The King and I (?!?)

Even more interesting was the Flyers Bakery and Café Inc. that featured a painting of old Harvard trainer airplanes on its façade.  An image from the internet shows that there is a mural of a Lancaster plane on the wall inside.  Unfortunately, this eatery might be permanently closed but it was a marketplace for not only breads, soups and pastries but also local artwork, crafts and antiques.  And there were some really cool retro items from the 1960s and 70s on display in the window of the Time Capsule shop, buying and selling records, collectibles and other items of nostalgia shop.  I found out after we got home that Dunnville is also home to  “Muddy the Mud Cat”, a giant sculpture of a catfish that was erected in 2009, honouring the community’s sports team mascot as well as referencing the prime fishing available in the area.  As giant sculptures are my thing, seeing this alone would be a reason for a return stop the next time we are in the area.

We also liked Turkey Point beach area and the town of Port Rowan in Norfolk County.  Port Rowan has a row of boathouses at its harbour including a Boathouse Restaurant serving fish and chips and other fare.  We did not have a chance to eat here, but given that we spent most of our 4-day road trip by either Lake Erie or Lake Huron, we did manage to dine on either perch or pickerel or both at every lunch or dinner during our travels.  I wish we had more time to explore Port Rowan since in addition to the pretty harbour area with the long pier and the lighthouse, the stores on the main drag also seemed fun.  There were several antique shops to rummage around, an ice cream parlour located in a quaint Gingerbread-styled building, and colourfully decorated saloons and bars.  This will be another area for us to return to, perhaps with our bicycles.

We stopped at the Joseph W. Csubak Memorial Viewing Area in the Long Point region of Norfolk County, a biosphere reserve named as one of the Long Point World Biosphere Foundation's “Amazing Places”, promoting sustainable communities that protect nature and wildlife. Birds including the bald eagle, Sandhill crane, black tern and marsh wren might be found here amidst the vast marshlands that lead to a tree-lined sand spit.  It is unclear who Joseph W. Csubak was, but the scenery at his memorial viewing point was breathtaking.  I also had to take a photo with the two bronze figures in Hensall, Ontario because how could I pass up not one but two large sculptures on a bench.

Many of the images shown in this blog were unexpected sightings and a result of either drive-by snapshots from the windshield or open window of our car, with Rich slowing down to a rolling stop whenever he could. In the instances where we did park the car to walk around, it was usually a quick 5-10 minute scouting tour to see if this would be somewhere good to return to on another trip.  We did spend some significant planned time in Port Colborne, Port Hope, St. Thomas, London, Grand Bend, Goderich and Bayfield which I will write about in subsequent blogs.