True. The 401 is more fields and cows, fields and cows. It’s still incredibly dull. Except for the Big Apple. Everyone loves the Big Apple, right?
And don’t forget Reid’s Dairy in Belleville! You can watch them make the ice cream before you eat it. 
Ohhh, I love Reid’s Dairy. It looks like a castle & has the best soft-serve ice cream ever.
You need to get off the 401. Try cutting down to Trenton, and going through Prince Edward County to Picton. Once in Picton, head for Glenora and take the ferry across Adolphus Reach. When you get off the ferry, head for Bath and then Kingston. It’s still agricultural, but much nicer scenery than you see on the 401.
Sometimes, I miss Ontario.
As Duke wrote, the best thing to do in Niagara Falls is definitely the Maid of the Mist. It’s an unforgettable experience. My brother just got back from a visit with his new wife (who had never been there), and they say the rest of the town just feels like a gigantic tourist trap.
Quebec city is beautiful, probably even more so then when your boyfriend went, as the city was beautified for the celebration of its 400th anniversary last year.
Another vote for** Spoons**’ itinerary instead of the 401.
Montreal is a large city, and there is a lot to do and see besides the food.
We were usually driving Hamilton-Sherbrooke or Trois-Rivières with a cat in the car, and often on long weekends or for short school breaks…we were more interested in just getting there already and the 401 is it. It was about 8 hours minimum…it once took us 12. The cat was angry.
If we ever go back toward Toronto for a vacation (that isn’t a quick drive up - concert -drive down trip), we’ll try that route. It does sound a lot more interesting!
Yes. I do not name the 401 “The Evil Death Highway of Doom” for nothing.
“Sometimes”? :dubious:
Actually, that may be something that the OP might want to do, if time allows–head east out of Toronto (or at least Oshawa) on the old Highway 2, with the Highway 33 swing through Prince Edward County. Lots of nice little Ontario towns, such as Cobourg and Port Hope and Trenton and Picton, with quaint main streets lined with shops, coffee places, restaurants, and a much calmer pace of travel than can be found on the 401. A little exploring in the larger communities, such as Belleville and Kingston, might be fun too. I’m unsure what Highways 2 and 33 were changed to when the highway download happened, but I’m sure an Ontario Doper, or at least a good road map, could help.
Yes, sometimes. I like Alberta’s prairies, and I love the mountains. But round about this time of year, I do miss Ontario’s rolling hills and all the greenery. You don’t realize how much greenery there is in Ontario until you come to a place where many, if not most, trees and bushes and plants are not native to the area and must either be brought from somewhere else or grown from seed or cutting.
I’m going to be in Canada the first week of July, should I plan for everything to be closed on July 1st?
And I’d be happy to get any recommendations for places to eat and things to do in the Toronto/Kitchener/Stratford area. We’re going to go to the Shoe Museum in Toronto, and hopefully to the Shakespeare festival for a few days.
I have little to add, being from that far, far away land known as Western Canada. I just wanted to say that I’m always amused by conversations about “I"m going to visit Canada”, when in fact the person is actually going to visit a teeny, tiny corner of Canada, most often Toronto/Montreal and the 300 miles or so in between.
If you were going to visit “Canada” by car, and wanted to drive 8 hours a day it would take you 11 days, 2 hours and 50 min, to travel the 7,207 kms.
People say the same thing about visitng California, although I readily admit we’re not nearly as big as Canada.
Restaurants, bars, pubs will likely be open, but stores and museums are either unlikely to be, or they’d be open for a shortened day. July 1st is in the middle of the week this year, so some places will be closed on the Monday instead, and some on the Wednesday. Pretty much every municipality will have some sort of Canada Day celebration and events, so it’s doubtful that you’d spend the day with nothing to do.
As for Western Canada…it’s your fault you’re so far away! Move a little closer, and someone will drop by for a visit 
ETA: There is a great English-style pub in Stratford, whose name I forget, but the food is very good. Definitely worth going to see plays there. I miss the Stratford Festival. The Shoe museum is fun, but kind of a short visit - you can plan to visit more on the same day.
Of course Nunavut Boy will be in to complain about how all those people in that thin strip of east-west settled land down south think they are the entire country…
And California is not nearly as big as Ontario, according to a California woman whom I met once on a train. We left Toronto and were heading westbound, and 24 hours after we left Toronto and were still in Ontario*, she remarked that she had no idea Canadian provinces were this big. She was further shocked when she found out that Ontario has two time zones. :eek:
- This was the CNR northern Ontario route (Capreol, Hearst, north of Nipigon, etc.) that VIA’s Canadian follows nowadays–it covers a greater distance and takes a little longer than the old passenger route that skirted Lake Superior.
Of course, being a VIA train, you had actually only gotten as far as Kitchener by the time 24 hours had passed…
Maybe the Boar’s Head Pub in the Queen’s Inn? Or the Olde English Parlour Historic Inn?
I think we’ll be trying to squeeze the shoe museum, the ceramics museum and the Royal Ontario all into one day.
The good news about that is, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Arts is across the street from the Royal Ontario Museum, at Bloor and Queens Park/Avenue Road, and the Bata Shoe Museum is about three blocks away at the SW corner of Bloor and St George.
The bad news is, you need more than a day for the ROM alone.
Man, you guys are awesome with all of these suggestions! I’ll be sure to keep this thread bookmarked for when we start our trip planning.
I have no idea. I may actually have been to both! It’s been a few years (2004 or 2005 I think was our last time out there).
I have a confession: I have never been to the ROM.
I have been to the Ontario Science Center twice, though, and that place is bloody awesome!
Yeah, it sure looks that way. We have tightly specialized interests, so I think we might be able to do it all in one day, if that day is Thursday.
Have you been to Fort York? They have a Canada Day celebration that might be fun.