From Bieber to Shakespeare to St. Mary's

We took the morning to explore a different part of town: Downie Street, where the City Hall and the Stratford Tourism Office are.  

The girls want to make sure you all know they are NOT Justin Bieber's fans, but they are certainly super excited to do his tour and see places where the big star spent his childhood. We started with his sidewalk star, just outside the Avon Theatre. 

The self guided Justin Bieber tour organized by the Tourism Information Office is short and sweet. You can download the map online or buy it for $1 at the Tourism Information Office. It shows places the singer used to get his breakfast, his school, and after school hangouts like the YMCA and the skate park.

It was fun for the girls to imagine him as little boy growing up here, playing basketball and being a normal kids... like them.

From Bieber back to Shakespeare. 

The Shakespearean Gardens is a must visit place in Stratford. 

It's a small but a pretty spot right downtown that transports you to gardens back in England and make you feel really peaceful. 

There he is again: William Shakespeare. 

Sofia enjoyed the sprinklers cooling her down.

Julia and I sat at the gazebo thinking of Romeo and Juliet.

Sofia reads "Captain Underpants" at the Shakespearean Gardens. 

Not a romantic reading, but I am happy she got inspired to read there. 

ST. MARY'S, ONTARIO

After lunch we headed with Mike to St. Mary's, a small tow, 20 minutes away from Stratford. 

It's a super cute town too.

St. Mary's City hall.

FROM: https://www.townofstmarys.com/en/index.aspx

The Town of St. Marys is located at the junction of the Thames River and Trout Creek, southwest of Stratford in southwestern Ontario. Rich in natural resources, namely the Thames River, the land that now makes up St. Marys was traditionally used as hunting grounds by First Nations peoples. European settlers arrived in the early 1840s.

The Town is known by its nickname, "The Stonetown," due to the abundance of limestone in the surrounding area, giving rise to a large number of limestone buildings and homes throughout the town. In the riverbed and along the banks, limestone was close to the surface and could be quarried for building materials. Many 19th century limestone structures have survived including churches, a beautiful museum, stunning opera house, commercial blocks, and private homes. St. Marys was incorporated into the province of Ontario, officially, in 1863.

The arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway in the late 1850's spurred growth and soon St. Marys became a centre for milling, grain-trading and the manufacture of agriculture-related products. The railway connected the Town to the rest of the world and framed the local landscape with its two large trestle bridges on limestone pillars across the waterways.

A walk through the historic streets of St. Marys offers a first-hand look at the unique stunning limestone architecture and vibrant downtown core. The community's rich history is preserved and promoted by the St. Marys Museum & Archives who continue to tell the stories of the town through its exhibitions, special events and programs.

St. Marys is home to not only 7,265 residents, but the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and is the burial place of Arthur Meighen, Canada's 9th Prime Minister, Timothy Eaton who went on to become one of Canada's greatest retailers, who opened his first businesses in Canada in St. Marys and nearby Kirkton, Ontario.

The town's present identity is very much shaped by its relationship to the natural wonder of the land, the spirit of its residents, and unique limestone architecture.

 

FROM WIKIPEDIA: 

The town is also known by its nickname, "The Stone Town", due to the abundance of limestone in the surrounding area, giving rise to numerous limestone buildings and homes throughout the town. St. Marys Cement, a large cement producer founded in the town, capitalized on this close feed stock, and grew to be a major producer of cement in the province of Ontario.

St. Mary's has a bunch of fantastic trails around the town. 

I highly recommend biking here, but we did a short part of one of the trails walking. 

It's so pretty!

FROM: https://www.ontariotrails.on.ca/index.php?url=trails/view/riverview-walkway-trail

A scenic 1.5 kilometre walk along the eastern bank of the Thames River. Have a nice leisurely walk along the river, rest on a park bench and enjoy the view of Victoria Bridge, the dam (Little Falls), or the wildlife along the riverbanks. McGiveron Parkway, overlooking the dam, is a quiet retreat on the edge of the downtown core area. 

Take some time this season and enjoy a peaceful walk along the river! The Riverview Walkway extends from south of the tennis courts and famous swimming quarry at the south end of town,along the river to the downtown area. St. Marys is filled with a variety of park areas that offer quiet moments of solitude or hours of activity.

THE QUARRY 

Canada's largest outdoor freshwater swimming pool

The quarry was really the reason of this trip. I came across it after an on line research about place to swim in Ontario. It is really impressive in person as it was in pictures. 

To swim here you need an online reservation - because of Covid - and it costs $23 per family for a two hour window. After that, they ask everyone to leave and disinfectant the area for the next group. 

St. Marys Quarry and Lind Sportsplex

FROM: https://www.todocanada.ca/summer-jump-canadas-largest-outdoor-freshwater-swimming-pool/

Founded in 1840’s when settlers came in search of the town’s abundant of limestone, St Marys is home to Canada’s largest outdoor freshwater swimming pool that started out as limestone quarry.

The Town of St Marys bought two abandoned limestone quarries along with 50 acres of surrounding land in 1945 and in the course of time converted it to a public recreational facility.

Today, you can cliff jump into the quarry (water level permitting), swim, jump into 25-foot water trampoline, explore the quarry on Stand-up paddleboard, or play beach volleyball!

The water was a bit cold but refreshing. 

The only issue for the kids is that there is no shallow area, so they must wear life jackets all the time. 

Detoxing from the big city after almost five months of Covid stress.

CLOSE TO ST. MARY'S TRAIN STATION 

We found this empty playground close to the train station, underneath the train tracks and beside the river.  What a pleasant surprise!

The kids played there for a long time, while Mike and I went for a little walk and appreciated the geese swimming around. 

It was such a nice change from the busy city life. 

No cars nor humans around. 

If you are in Stratford, please book at least an afternoon to visit St. Mary's. 

It's a little hidden gem. 

Playground day after almost 5 months of Covid!

This summer Thursday started with a typical Canadian breakfast at the AirBnB. 

Lots of protein to face the outdoor play day. 

We started walking along the Avon River, by the tourism information centre - closed at the moment.

The trio in the morning: full of energy.

This place is so beautiful and peaceful. 

Perhaps it is a bit calmer than normal due to Covid, since the theatre festival was cancelled this year.  

We walked along Lakeside Drive, enjoying the presence of many ducks, geese and swans on Lake Victoria. 

It's absolutely gorgeous!

The houses are unbelievably beautiful and canoes make the place even more magical.

Ducks parking lot.

We were incredibly lucky to encounter this mama - or papa? -  swan with FOUR baby swans. 

Simply adorable.

The highlight of the day was definitely the playground! 

After walking for about a hour, the girls could see it from across the lake and went bananas. 

It's been almost five months since they been allowed to play in play structures - they were simply not opened in Toronto. But Stratford has been in phase three for a while. 

They were absolutely in heaven!

PARK GOSSIP ABOUT JUSTIN BIEBER

Funny gossip from the park...

While the girls made friends at the park, I talked to another mom. 

I was curious to hear what locals thought about their most notorious celebrity: Justin Bieber. 

This mom - who I have no idea what her name is - wasn't too impressed to hear about Bieber. 

She said: "oh yeah, I used to babysit him." And continued: "he was a hand full as a child."

She assured me that he is "a very talented person," but made sure to say too that locals in Stratford are not THAT impressed with his stardom. 

The girls were just happy to know they were hanging out with Justin Bieber's former babysitter's daughters. hahahaha. 

It didn't take us that long to find our six degrees of separation! :)

After a couple of hours, we left the playground and walked back to downtown on the other side of the lake, through this beautiful trail. We got to see huge and gorgeous houses.

And bunnies happily hopping around.

From downtown we headed back to the other side of the river to the Upper Queens Park - another extension of the park, with a different "orange playground."

Again, the kids were extremely happy and played there for hours. 

 Right beside the park is the Stratford Festival Theatre. 

The festival was canceled this year, but  here is the website: https://www.stratfordfestival.ca for video performances during Covid.

WILLIAN SHAKESPEARE Statue

FROM WIKIPEDIA: 

The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, the Shakespeare Festival and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The festival was one of the first arts festivals in Canada and continues to be one of its most prominent. It is recognized worldwide for its productions of Shakespearean plays.

The festival's primary focus is to present productions of William Shakespeare's plays, but it also runs a wide variety of theatre from Greek tragedy to Broadway-style musicals and contemporary works. In the early years of the festival, Shakespeare's works typically represented about a third of the offerings in the largest venue, the Festival Theatre. By 2017, however, only three of the 14 productions were Shakespeare's works.

The success of the festival changed Stratford into a city where arts and tourism play important roles in the economy. The festival attracts many tourists from outside Canada, most notably British and American visitors.

Everywhere you look around here there is an amazing and well kept garden. 

It's either in public spaces or in the houses' front yards. 

I think, after theatre, gardening must be the main attraction in Stratford. 

This is a Yellow Water Lily flower from one of those public Gardens. 

End of the day and dad joined us from work.

Dinner was at Mercer Kitchen, back on Ontario Street. 

https://www.mercerhall.ca

The place - which is also a hotel - offers delicious burgers and a variety of beers. 

I had the best day with these two. 

Covid Vacation: Stratford, Ontario

Covid -19 forced us to cancel our already booked trip to California back in March. It was upsetting at the time and we still don't know when we'll get on a plane to go to places.

 Therefore, we had to be creative and look closer for vacation ideas. That's when Stratford was caught by our travelling radar. This small town is  probably most famous for being Justin Bieber's hometown, but is also known for hosting Canada's most famous theatre festival. 

Our vacation is here, only two hours away from Toronto, but feeling like we are having a proper get away!

We booked this charming airbnb, right on the Main Street - Ontario Street - for five nights. 

I was impressed about how clean and organized the place is. 

They also had a complementary box of masks and hand sanitizer available. 

It's an one room apartment, but it can sleep up to five people. It's extremely comfortable. 

After getting settled and getting some groceries for breakfast, we headed out to explore the Main Street downtown. Ontario Street is a short strip with restaurants, boutiques and art stores. 

From Wikipedia:

Stratford is a city on the Avon River within Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2016 population of 31,465 in a land area of 28.28 square kilometres. Stratford is the seat of Perth County which was settled by English, Irish, Scottish and German immigrants, in almost equal numbers, starting in the 1820s but primarily in the 1830s and 1840s. Most became farmers, and even today, the area around Stratford is known for mixed farming, dairying and hog production.

The land on which the area exists is the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg people. When the area which is now Stratford was first settled in 1832, the townsite and the river were named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Stratford was incorporated as a town in 1859 and as a city in 1886. The first mayor was John Corry Wilson Daly and the current mayor is Dan Mathieson. The swan has become a symbol of the city. Each year twenty-four white swans are released into the Avon River. 

The town is well known for being the home of the Stratford Festival previously known as the Stratford Shakespeare Festival; while Shakespeare's plays are still produced, theatre in a wide range of genres is offered each year, from May to October.

Pizzeria Pazzo - on Ontario Street - was our pick of the day for dinner, suggested by our friend and neighbour Erosia, back in Toronto. 

Hanging out at the park across the street while the food was getting prepared.

We sat outside because of the Covid. 

The restaurant put tables in the alley behind the building, and it was quite a pleasant atmosphere. 

It felt like being in the alleys in Italy.

Dinner - pizza, arugula sala and mussels - was delicious!

This interesting old building is in the back of the alley. 

I love the "mother-in-law" type of door on the top left. We learned about that on our trip to Newfoundland years ago - from our lovely friend Blanche. It's quiet a funny name!

Let's see what this town will have to offer us over the next five days.