Train trip to Kingston, the original capital of Canada. Get mindful in remembrance day. Great trip idea for winter.
Getting there
From Toronto Union Station, you hop on the via train to Ottawa. They stop you in Kingston half way to the full trip. It took about 3.5 hours, not bad of time for a day trip. I took escape, the cheapest seat. You still get to sit with one person though. To be honest, I lost a train and had to change to next train. But, I grabbed a coffee and it was all okey. 🙂
City hall
First place I went was Kingston City hall square. City hall was very antique and there is public washroom in there, important point. (It was not easy to find a place to go to washroom in Kingston, no kidding.)
There also was a market going on the square, farmers seemed to come regularly to sell the products they grow. I wanted to get apples, but it would be too heavy so I gave up. If you go there for days, get a box, they looked great.
Waterfront
The water front looked so peaceful and nice. It was just like a dream. Lots of dogs there, just to give a heads up. There also was ferry drop off point, you can get a cruise until October, but I went November so no thousand island tour for me.
The information center was there to help people traveling to Kingston.
“Kingston” sign was there so you can get in there and take a photo, which is my main photo.
Trolly Tour
I reserved for a trolly tour, an hour bus trip around Kingston with a guide. So, I went to pickup my ticket. This shop had Kingston souvenirs. I did not get any, due to lack of time, but if interested go here. it is near downtown, right in front of the lake.
The trolly, the red bus, looked so cute and I liked the guide. She was nice and loud. You get to listen to her knowledge about the town for an hour. They go to many places that are famous in Kingston, Fort henry, the military place, perimetrium(the jail), and queens university etc. You can take pictures or videos out in the window. Inside the trolly looks like this. If you know nothing about Kington, like me, book this tour.
Crave Café
The guide in the trolly tour suggested us to go here so I did exactly that. I really liked the cinnamon roll and egg tart. I needed sweet because I almost had nothing until this point. Very busy café, I had no place to sit for a while. It is located downtown at 166 Princess St, Kingston.
Queen’s Univesity
I took the bus to Queens. Just warning you, there is no ticket kiosk at Kington so get some coins and bills a head of time.
The campus was so beautiful! There was football going on in the field on the Saturday.
As you can see, the university is beautiful throughout. I really liked the library. The campus is very antique and made out of limestone, making you feel like studying. I wished I went here.
I forgot to take photo there so before heading back to the train station, I went waterfront again. Wow. It was so windy that day. One of photo is a little unclear because the camera shook.
Back to Via rail
I got 8:30 train, the latest train to Union. I was so tired. The moon was already up. by the time I got to Finch Station, it was raining like storm. But, I got home at 12:30 am.
Summary
It was a great day trip. Kingston may be a small town but had so many attractions you can get mindful with. I think it was the right choice to go there on Remembrance day because there were lots of military places. I should’ve gone to fort henry, but I missed it. Hope you do not miss it~! If you want to go to a short day trip, I suggest Kington.
Thank You.