Treasures of Tuscany September 2012

We've arrived  and are here in Tuscany, Italy-BEAUTIFUL!  All of us arrived safe and sound and are looking forward to our adventures starting today.  Here's us enjoying the delicious food and wine in Radda in Chianti at our hotel Palazzo Leopoldo  http://www.palazzoleopoldo.it/en/ .

Small towns of Ontario - Haliburton

Haliburton is one of my favourite towns in cottage country.  I visit often and am always amazed at the hidden treasures waiting to be explored.
This past weekend I learned about many of the historical and tourist spots in the area.  This photo was taken from the lookout point which offers a wonderful view of the town and Head Lake.  The area is surrounded by gentle rolling hills and a deciduous forest.  I can just imagine how spectacular the view must be in the fall.  This is a spot I will return to in late September or early October to view the fall colours of Ontario.

My next stop was the Haliburton Highlands Museum The exhibit features the first inhabitants; the native people, the settlers and lumbermen. The buildings include a village home, the Reid House, as well as  farmstead log buildings which represent life in a rural setting.  These buildings were found in the local area, moved in and reconstructed.  Most of the original buildings decayed over the years as they were abandoned by the settlers when they fell upon hard times.

The Haliburton forest surrounds the museum and throughout the area there are many hiking trails.  One particular trail I chose to explore is called the Haliburton Sculputre Forest.
This trail offers a unique outdoor collection of sculputres by Canadian and International artists.
I encourage you to visit this fabulous art display located in Glebe Park.  

This is one of my favorite statues. Who would.think you'd find a giant shoe in the middle of the forest.

This sculpture represents our national animal, he Canadian Beaver.  

The sculpture forest also shares the park with Fleming College's Haliburton School of Arts, Haliburton Highlands Nordic Trails and Haliburton Highlands Mountain Bike Trails.

 
This sculpture is also one of my favourites.
The birds look as though they are ready to take flight, a site that is often seen in the forest area.

As you can see, there is lots to do in this area which is located on the Edge of Haliburton Village; culture, hiking, biking, cross country skiing and more.

The Halliburton Forest is home to a wide variety of animals both large and small. I spotted this wonderful creature in town on someones front lawn enjoying a snack of crab apples.  There are many wildlife sightings in town and along the roadways. If you plan a visit be sure to keep a lookout for these lovely animals. You might see racoons and skunks, deer, moose and bear. Don't forget to look to the sky for blue heron, hawk, Canada geese, ducks and a variety of colourful birds.  My favourites are the gold finches, bluejays and hummingbirds.

IA trip to the dump is always exciting for me as there's usually a few bears hanging around waiting for a tasty treat.  On this particular visit there was a Mother bear and her cubs.  I've been told the Scotch Line dump is quite a popular place with the bears. This summer they had a record breaking day with over 40 bears sighted at once.  If visiting, keep in mind these are wild animals so you must be respectful of there territory. They are quite upredictable and dangerous if provoked.

The town of Haliburton has many landmark buildings such as the Molou Movie Theatre which was operational until earlier this summer. It has recently been converted to a store.

 

 McKeck's has been a popular dining establishment since 1986.  Walt McKechnie was the founder of McKecks and he owned and operated this fine establishment from 1986 until 2009.  He opened the restaurant following his retirement from the NHL in 1984.

As you enter into the town you will find some unique items located in Head Lake Park. There's a vintage RCAF plane and a locomotive train.  A great place to take the kids to see these historical items.

Head Lake Park hosts many popular events throughout the summer. One of the most famous is the Haliburton Highland Games.  Visitors come from far away to take part in and enjoy this traditional festival which offers a variety of events including the pipe bands, dance competitions, border collies, vendors, and of course “the big guys throwing stuff” as well as the popular variety of foods and refreshments.

 This is one of the local residents found in the wetlands by the cottage.  I can spend hours sitting on the dock observing the wildlife in the area. This great blue heron visits regularly and it's quite a site watching him fish for his meal of the day or graciously soar in the sky.  Haliburton is a wonderful place to visit.  I encourage you to take time our of your busy lives and explore the many wonderful small towns of Ontario.

Small towns of Ontario - Peterborough

Another weekend spent exploring one of the wonderful small towns, actually a city of Ontario.  Peterborough is located in the Kawartha Lakes District on the Otonabee River which is part of the Trent Severn Waterway.  We stayed at the Best Western Plus Otonabee River.  Situated in a quiet area of Peterborough on a lovely little river leading into the Otonabee. Our room was spacious and bright and the view quite tranquil.  The continental breakfast was sumptuous with fresh fruits, cereals, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and more.  I was quite impressed as I was only expecting coffee and muffins. What a  nice surprise.

The downtown core of Peterborough is where everything happens. There's a great marina with a large parkt next door.  Quite often there are activities in the park with live entertainment.. This particular weekend there was an Elvis impersonator performing at the bandshell and the park was full of avid Elvis fans.  Just down the road the Rib Fest was on.  The bustling crowd seemed to be quite happy with the many choices of ribs being served and there was a band playing. During the summer months Rib fests are quite popular throughout Southern Ontario. If you like ribs, you must check out a Ribfest  in your local area.

 

Little lake is situated in the centre of town and is home to many waterfowl and fish. The view of the town and surrounding area are quite beautiful from the lake side.

 There's a paved pathway alongside the lake with picturesque gardens, memorials and statues. This memorial garden was dedicated in loving memory of the children who have passed far too soon.

This sculpture is dedicated by the Peterborough and District Labour Council to the men and women workers past, present and future. 

 There's an old railway bridge spanning the lake and functions as short cut from one side of town to the other.

Peterborough's lift locks are an engineering marvel.  If you've never seen a lift lock in action I suggest you visit this one. The lift lock opened in 1904 and this project included many engineering firsts. It was the first lock to be built out of concrete, and at the time was the largest structure ever built in the world with unreinforced concrete.The lock has two identical ship caissons (like bathtubs) in which vessels ascend and descend. Both caissons are enclosed at each end by pivoting gates, and there are pivoting gates at the upper and lower reaches of the canal at the junctions with the caissons. The gates on the caissons fit into slots on the gates on the reaches, so that they open in unison. No external power is needed: the lift lock functions by gravity alone using the counterweight principle.

  

Small towns of Ontario - Lakefield

This summer I've had the opportunity to visit many of Ontario's small towns. They are charming and historical, have wonderful shops and restaurants that you would only expect to find in a large city and the people are warm and friendly and willing to share great tips and information about their area.

This past weekend I visited Lakefield which is situated in the Kawartha Lakes district of Ontario. This charming town is situated on the Trent Canal River system www.trentcanal.com  which allows you to visit by boat or by car. My girlfriends and I spent many hours browsing in the shops, chatting with the store owners and clerks and yes, you guessed it, buying some great items. Our first stop was www.sunblockers.ca a bathing suit shop that I had heard so much about.  It was a treat.  Great variety, very helpful and knowledgeable staff and excellent quality bathing suits.  

 After purchasing our new suits we continued along Queen Street and popped into www.TragicallyHip.com to browse through the nooks and cranny's that are  filled with wonderful items; clothing, jewelry, and  fabulous hats.  We had great fun trying on tops, trinkets and whimsical hats.  The store clerks were very interesting and happy to share their passions with us. Mary's passion is everything Celtic, she has a website www.celticconnection.ca and a radio show out of the local university. Jeanne is passionate about numerology and is happy to share this with you. Her website is www.thenumbergenie.com.  If you happen to be in Lakefield be sure to visit these lovely ladies and take the time to browse in this wonderful store.

With all this shopping we worked up an appetite.  Time to take a snack break and have some of our favourite Kawartha Dairy ice cream.  This is the best iceream I've ever tasted and there are many interesting flavours to choose from: raspberry thunder, moose tracks and my favourite parlines and cream. MMMMM!

We continued our stroll along Queen Street and came across the very colourful Stuff Store.  The outside decor was so inviting we just had to go in.  There are fabulous jams, vinaigretts, sauces, trinkets and much more. I purchased some delicious balsamic salad toppers flavoured with raspberries and sour cherry.  Very yummy.  Lori purchased a wine stopper to go with her worldly collection and we had a wonderful chat with shop keeper Justin.  He was happy to offer tastes of the products we were interested in and told us about  the local winery which offers tastings of their fruit wines, www.kawarthacountrywines.ca.

Our afternoon shopping excursion was successful.  Time to go back to the cottage, change into our new bathing suits and relax lakeside in the warmth of the sun.  Great friends, good food and the charming town of Lakefiled.  The perfect way to spend a summer weekend in Ontario.

  

Day 2 and 3 in Portugal

Sorry for not posting a blog sooner.  Undortunately my computer picked up a virus and the windows is corrupt.  I wonºt be posting any blogs during this trip but promise to do one when I return to Canada.
I apologize to all of our famiy and friends that were planning on following our journey.
All of the ladies are healthy, happy and having great fun.  We went to the Douro Valley yesterday for some fabulous port tasting and typical pastries from this region.  Delicious!.  Today we had a tour of Porto, our walk about the town included the magnifcent tiled railway station, the Cathedral and shopping on Santa Catarina Street.  Great fun.  We are off to dinner shortly.  The food is fabulous and the wines very tasty.  Iºll send a little update as soon as possible.  thanks for your patience and understanding.  The blog will resume the week of May 28th.  

We've arrived.  The sky is partly cloudy and the weather is a comfortable 70 degrees. Perfect touring weather.  Our day begins with a panoramic tour of Porto.  This town or should I call it a city, is much larger than I expected.  The old part of the town dates back to the 1500's.  The  buildings are old, crooked, some falling down and together it is all quite charming. Our guide Monica is full of knowledge and very enthusiastic.  She points out all of the major landmarks to help us get acquainted with Porto.  After an overview we stop at St. Catherines street for lunch at one of the oldest and most beautiful cafe's for lunch.  The building has been restored and looks as it used to back in the 1800's.  The food is delicious. We board our bus once again and our skilled driver travels through the narrow streets, along the river and to our hotel, Pousada Feixo Palace.  It's absolutely beautiful. This building was in reins until recently when the government took it over and restored it into this stunning 5 star hotel overlooking the Duoro River.
The rooms are bright and spacious and the bathrooms large and very well appointed.  We take some down time to unpack, relax and unwind from the long journey.  The pool area has a lovely bar where everyone gathered for a cocktail before dinner. Dinner this evening was in a private room at the hotel.  The room has some of the original frescoes on the walls, high ceilings, beautiful chandeliers and a wonderful view of the river.  The setting is magnificent and the food delicious.  The perfect way to end a wonderful day.

Portugal - our journey begins!

My bags are packed, passport and E ticket in hand, camera ready.  
The "Babes on the Bus" are heading to Portugal.  Let the fun begin!
We'll be exploring sunny Portugal, with it's dramatic coastline, charming villages with narrow cobblestone streets and medieval walled cities. We're staying in pousadas - elegant, unique and historic hotels and visiting UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the city of Guimaraes and the Tower of Belem.
Our journey will follow the contours of the Douro River where we'll taste local wines of the world's oldest wine making region. We'll visit Sintra to see the spectacular castles, manors and gardens and the famous pilgrim town of Fatima. In Lisbon we'll explore city highlights - monuments of beautiful Moorish architecture, the old Alfama district, the sophisticated Bairro Alto and the Lapa districts and learn the secrets of Portuguese cooking at a hands on cooking class. I invite you to follow along with us by checking my blog.  Photos and stories will be posted as often as possible. More to come..........