June 24-25, 2019 – To finally resolve the ‘overnight delivery’ that wasn’t, Davis drove me to Watertown, to the FEDEX dispatch center, to get my package directly, so we could get underway to Kingston, Ontario. In the same office park we encountered something just a little…interesting. You know the little pine tree that hangs from your mirror? Apparently it takes a pretty good sized office building to house the corporate brain trust, and it’s in Watertown, NY. Who knew?
As we pulled out of the harbor at Clayton, we were reminded that this was the St Lawrence Seaway, not just just a small boat channel. Luckily, they go very slowly, and it’s not too hard to see them coming, nor to keep out of their way.
We crossed over into Canadian water, and cruised for several hours before arriving in Kingston.
After docking at the Marina, we took a walk into town, and decided to take a tourist trolley around to get oriented, since we would be spending two days here. It was rather odd, though, that the trolley guide was an Asian immigrant, with quite a thick accent. He had studied the script, of course, but it just didn’t quite have the cultural credibility that it might have had with a native Canadian.
Impressions – nice small city, lots of history, beautiful buildings – including the Queens University – quite vibrant downtown area, lots of cafes and restaurants, 2:30 in the afternoon is NOT too early to hang out and have a beer, legalized marijuana businesses right out in the open (maybe or maybe not related to the beggars sitting around at street corners.) And they really obey the crosswalk signals – but step off the curb the instant the light is red.
The next day we rode the trolley back to Fort Henry, constructed during the War of 1812 to protect the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard (the site of the present-day Royal Military College of Canada) on Point Frederick from a possible American attack during the war and to monitor maritime traffic on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. It was enlarged in the 1830s, and restored to its present appearance in the 1930s. Really enjoyed the walking tour, but we did not get to see any of the drill demonstrations.
We caught the trolley back and found a good example of one of the aforementioned establishments to enjoy a frosty beverage and a late lunch, while observing the scene. Had a terrific ‘brewers plate’, that wound up being enough for a complete meal. We talked to several other people at nearby tables, including some Australian tourists, and a guy who was on a motorcycle trip with friends. He came to our table to borrow a spare chair, and wound up sitting down and talking to us for 20 minutes
We then walked to the local Staples store a few blocks away to pick up our newly printed boatcards (version 2.0), that we exchange with other boats that we meet along the way. We have a rapidly growing binder with the pages of other cards we have collected – helps us to remember people names that go with boat names, as we encounter folks a few weeks later that we have met before.
Interestingly, the government owns all the distribution for alcoholic beverages, so no wine in grocery stores, no beer at gas stations. The LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) stores ensure consistent pricing and take the hefty government cut of taxes on all sales. We went to an LCBO store to check it out. Generally, prices were higher on the kinds of things that we’d stock on the liquor shelf, but reasonable on many low/mid wine bottles. Many, many different kinds of beer – you have to flip your head, though, with regard to what’s an ‘import’ and what’s ‘domestic’. Only singles cans (big 16 oz. ones) and six-packs. No 12 or 24 cases!? What’s up with that? (To be answered in a future post) We bought a couple interesting sounding craft brews, a cider, and a sangria, to try.
Later, we went back to a German restaurant we had seen, and sat in their biergarten for some really good German beer, and some OK schnitzel. Tomorrow we will head up the Bay of Quinte, enroute to Trenton, Ontario.