A year-end look at eastern skylines

The Manhattan skyline from the Empire State Building in August

2014 has been a year of discovering cities in eastern Canada and the U.S. 

From Halifax to Detroit and from Ottawa to Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to visit nine cities in the region this year. 

For this blogpost, a visit means at least one overnight stay. My excursions in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New York, District of Columbia and Michigan totaled 23 hotel room nights this year – 26 if I include a January trip to Las Vegas, but that’s another story.


I described all my trips in detail in various blogposts this year. So for a recap, I chose to take another look at those adventures by focusing on my photos of skylines of the east.


U.S. Capitol with the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Toronto skyline from the Beaches - first warm day in May

Quebec City with the St. Lawrence River in June

July in Niagara Falls, without a view of the falls

A July cruise along the Ottawa River provides a view of the Chateau Laurier Hotel and Parliament Hill

Fine late September weather in Montreal

Thanksgiving weekend in Windsor



GM headquarters dominates the Detroit skyline in this Thanksgiving weekend view from Windsor

On the ferry in Halifax Harbour on chilly November Sunday afternoon

A November visit to Detroit revealed an empty Woodward Ave. waiting for revitalization





A Vice-Regal Trip to Ottawa

The title of this post may be misleading. I wasn’t in Ottawa to receive a Vice-Regal appointment. I didn’t see the Prime Minister and didn’t have an audience with the Governor General. I just like the term Vice-Regal. 

I must say that the national capital is a regal city with all of its institutions, monuments, memorials, churches, museums and, of course, the seat of our national government.

Visiting the centre and east blocks of the Parliament Buildings provides an easy way to learn about Canada’s history and the role of government. What a great job for the summer students who provided excellent, fact-filled tours.

On the museum front, the Canadian War Museum tells the story of Canada’s involvement in conflicts in a logical and chronological order.  And with the 100^th anniversary of the start of First World War this summer, I rediscovered much of what I have forgotten from my high school history classes. I was also honoured to learn more about the Second World War to supplement all the stories my father told my family about his time in that war.
 

Across the Ottawa River, in Gatineau is the Canadian Museum of History.  A highlight for me was a special exhibit that exposed me to an incident that I knew nothing about – the sinking of the Empress of Ireland.  Dubbed, Canada’s Titanic, two ships collided on May 29, 1914 in the St. Lawrence River. The Empress of Ireland, with 1,477 people on board, sank in less than 15 minutes. An estimated 1,032 passengers and crew perished.

On the lighter side, a temporary exhibit at the museum called Snow, revels how snow has shaped the Canadian identity. I certainly got my identity shaped with the worst winter in 20 years in Toronto!

Other stops included tours of the Supreme Court of Canada and Rideau Hall, home to the Governor General and a cruise along the Ottawa River with a perfectly-bilingual tour guide. And yes, I did manage to find time to visit Casino du Lac-Leamy.

Changing of the Guard ceremony on Parliament Hill

Rideau Falls

My radio news career never took me to Ottawa, so humour me when I sign off this post with “this is Sam Corea on Parliament Hill.”