John and Margaret-Ann last met up with John’s cousins Edith, Christina and Waltraud (three sisters) and Waltraud’s husband Sonny in Vienna in September of 2011 (check out the earlier blog posting). This year they decided to visit John and Margaret-Ann in Brampton.
Edith (from Stuttgart) and Christina (from Tübingen) flew from Frankfurt to New York on July 24th and spent four days touring, shopping, seeing some Broadway plays and doing more shopping before flying to Toronto.
Waltraud and Sonny (from Mühlacker) flew to New York on July 27th. They rented a car and visited with friends in New Jersey before driving through upstate New York to John and Margaret-Ann’s in Brampton. We’ll catch up with them later.
Roll the cursor over the pictures to read the captions. Click on a picture to enlarge it, then click on the back arrow button in the top left to return to the blog.
Monday, July 29th
John picked Edith and Christina up at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport just after noon and brought them back to Brampton, their base of operations for the next several days.
Tuesday, July 30th
John dropped Edith and Christina off at Erika (John’s sister) and Roger’s house in Burlington. After a full day of shopping in Oakville and dinner at Erika and Roger’s, Edith and Christina returned to Brampton for the night.
Wednesday, July 31st
John, Margaret-Ann, Edith and Christina drove to the Yorkdale Shopping Plaza where they caught the subway to downtown Toronto. They got off at Union Station and strolled through the lobby of the Royal York Hotel on their way to Harbourfront Centre. After walking along the lakeshore they headed up by the Rogers Centre and CN Tower (Christina really wanted to do the Sky Walk but they just didn’t have time) and did a little souvenir shopping at Nickelby’s before meeting up with Jeremy (John and Margaret-Ann’s son) for lunch in the Financial District at Fiore Bistro Bar.
After lunch the women spent some quality time in Canada’s largest women’s shoe store in the Hudson Bay Company – John was very patient during the shopping frenzy.
The group later walked through the grounds of Osgoode Hall and Nathan Phillips Square of City Hall on their way to the University of Toronto and, via Philosopher's Trail, up to the shopping mecca of Bloor Street and Yorkville.
After walking a little over 18 kilometres in Downtown Toronto, they caught the subway back to Yorkdale where the women managed to do a little more shopping before driving back to Brampton for the night.
Thursday, August 1st
The group left early in the morning headed for Kingston, but stopped on the way for coffee and a little stroll through Port Hope.
Most of the afternoon was spent wandering through Kingston and checking out all the interesting shops.
On the return journey they took the Loyalist Parkway and crossed the Adolphus Reach of Lake Ontario on the Glenora Ferry then drove up to the Lake On The Mountain in Prince Edward County before heading home to Brampton.
Friday, August 2nd
The plan was to meet Waltraud and Sonny in front of the Prince Of Wales Hotel in Niagara-On-The-Lake at 11:00 a.m. That gave John, Margaret-Ann, Edith and Christina plenty of time to meander through wine country on their way, stopping at Fielding Estate Winery in Beamsville to do a little tasting of their excellent red wines.
The group, half an hour late, finally met up with Waltraud and Sonny in Niagara-On-The-Lake and then they all headed off to Niagara-Falls. After strolling by the Horseshoe and American Falls it was back to Niagara-On-The-Lake for lunch at the Old Winery restaurant. After lunch and before heading back to Brampton was, of course, the obligatory browsing/shopping in the many lovely boutiques of Niagara-On-The-Lake.
Saturday, August 3rd
While Margaret-Ann stayed home to prepare for the evening meal, John took the rest of the group on a hiking trek first to the Cheltenham Badlands and then on to the Forks Of The Credit Provincial Park. All the hiking built up an appetite for the evening’s wonderful dinner that Erika and Roger also attended.
Sunday, August 4th
With John driving Edith and Christina, and Sonny driving Waltraud and Margaret-Ann, they headed north into cottage country. They stopped and viewed McGowan Falls (Durham), Hoggs Falls (near Flesherton) and Eugenia Falls (Eugenia) before visiting with Jeremy, Jennifer and their sons Will and Ben at a cottage on Lake Eugenia rented by Jennifer’s parents Bill and Karen.
Jeremy took Margaret-Ann and Edith (her first time) for a sail boat ride while everyone else just relaxed on the dock.
After a very pleasant visit it was back in the cars and up the scenic Beaver Valley Road to The Village at Blue Mountain for an excellent dinner at the Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill. A leisurely drive back along Airport Road south through the Caledon Hills brought the group back to Brampton.
Monday, August 4th
In the morning John took the group for a walk around Professor’s Lake and then Margaret-Ann took them for a little shopping spree – Edith and Christina had a little room left in their 23 kilo luggage weight limit and just wanted to top up their bags.
In the afternoon it was off to Meredith (John & Margaret-Ann’s daughter) and Michael’s for a relaxing BBQ on their deck.
Tuesday, August 6th
The end of the visit.
After breakfast Waltraud and Sonny drove off headed to Sudbury. They planned to drive to Sault Ste. Marie, cross over to the States and head down to Chicago then over to Washington, D.C. before heading back to New York for their flight back to Germany on August 19th.
The rest of the group had just enough time for a quick tour of downtown Brampton before John drove Edith and Christina to the airport for their afternoon return flight to Frankfurt.
John and Margaret-Ann had nine days of excellent adventures with four very special people! This wasn’t the first time they met and it won’t be the last. If fact, John and Margaret-Ann will again meet up later this summer with Edith and Christina in Constance, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland. Stay tuned for the blog posting of what will undoubtedly be another excellent adventure. Bye for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment