Two years in Toronto

The end of winter is so long awaited in Canada that anything remotely spring-like attracts crowds. As the temperature finally began to rise at the beginning of May, even the little row of cherry blossoms in Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park drew a large audience. Apparently it’s the perfect scene for Instagram, making (as one visitor remarked loudly) for some very grumpy boyfriends. The same is true of the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, held every year in the middle of May to celebrate the city’s tulips – a gift from the Dutch to thank Canada for sheltering the future Queen Juliana during World War II. They attract an audience of over 650,000 annually, so as we joined the crowds over Victoria Day weekend, we jostled to see the 1 million tulips on display beside Ottawa’s greatest landmarks. Some, like the Disneyland Paris orange tulips, were resplendent; others, struggling with the unseasonal downpours, less so. Our second trip to Ottawa was much warmer than our...

The groundhog got it wrong. On 2 February – Groundhog Day – Ontario’s own Wiarton Willie headed out of his burrow. Legend says that if he sees his shadow he’ll rush back in, heralding at least six more weeks of winter; if he doesn’t, an early spring is on its way. This year, he stayed out – but the snow kept falling until the last days of April. (Will this cause Ontarians to lose faith in Willie? We suspect not. Such is the groundhog’s renown that when his predecessor moved to the great burrow in the sky, his casket was given a ceremonial funeral and paraded through the town.) Fortunately, there is plenty to do here during a long winter. In March we enjoyed spectacular views of Niagara Falls – far less crowed than in the summer , and even more striking in flurries of snow. Boats can’t travel through the frozen plunge pool but we enjoyed our ‘journey behind the falls’ to see the icy cascade, and it was fun to pop over Rainbow Bridge for lunch in the USA. Back in Tor...