Kingston, Canada

Kingston was the first capital of Canada, until the capital was moved because it was felt that being so close to America wasn’t safe. Which means that it has some very important buildings and military bases for a town of its size.


My first stop in Kingston was food - my guide book recommended the Kingston Brewing Company, which brews its own beers, so off I headed to try the famous Dragon’s Breath Pale Ale and the Whitetail Cream Ale.
Both were very nice and went down well with the shrimp I had. The pub itself was covered in beer mats, drip trays etc for beers around the world, British beers were well represented, along with a few Bavarian beers too - so it felt like home from home.

My hostel is the only hostel in Kingston and with it being out of season, I got a room to myself and a double bed, which was absolute bliss! Not that I mind sharing a dorm, but being able to spread your stuff out and not worry about everyone else with the lights is great. Plus it means there are no evil plastic bag rattlers either.

I’d read that Kingston offers free, downloadable walking tours, so I tried to download it from the site but with no luck. So first stop in the morning was the tourist office to see if they could help and they did, it was a bit of a challenge but I was able to set off on the tour with the town crier warning me not to get run over. The walking tour is only 45 minutes, but it covers most of the city - it is small. 

It not only tells you about the sites you are going past, like St George’s Cathedral, City Hall, Frontenac Fort and Rochleau court, but also the history of the place and the founding fathers, the devastating fires and what Charles Dickens thought when he visited. Apparently he wasn’t greatly impressed as the town had been burnt down a few years before and it was in the process of being rebuilt.

Once the tour was over and I’d snuck a peak in City Hall, whilst avoiding the town meeting that was taking place in one of the rooms, then it was off to Fort Henry. Fort Henry was on the other side of the river, so I trudged over the bridge (one of the must do’s in Kingston - so you can listen to the noise of the cars driving over the wooden planks?!) and then up the hill to the Fort. 

Unfortunately no one told me it was shut, well you could walk around it, but the main buildings were closed. And those that were open, were only open in the evenings for Fort Erie - they’d turned the place into fright fort for Halloween. But at least there were good views over the town and the thousand islands.

It was still drizzling, as it had been most of the day, so a coffee shop beckoned, where the owner explained was a Loonie and Toonie was and then she got into a discussion with her other customers over what a five dollar coin would be called - it seemed the consensus was Foonie. A Loonie is a one dollar coin and the Toonie is a two dollar coin. Not that anyone has asked me for a Loonie or a Toonie, but it’s useful to know.

On my last morning, I headed back into town for breakfast and the sun was shining, the marketplace was full of stalls, with farmer’s selling everything from honey to a million different types of pumpkin. It was lovely day, but typically I was leaving.

Next stop Ottawa!