Enjoy all the discoveries of travel and still have the pleasure of lying on your own pillow, in your own bed,come night.
The Play’s the Thing
Stratford
Well-kept gardens, fine dining, quaint shops, art and swans swimming lazily on the idyllic Avon River are all very nice, but outstanding theater is what keeps people coming back to this charming town year after year. The Stratford Festival runs from April to November and presents Shakespearean plays along with a variety of classic and contemporary productions. This year Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Des McAnuff, has been the festival’s biggest hit with rave reviews. Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor and Twelfth Night, Pinter’s The Homecoming and Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath are among the dozen plays showing this season.
Niagara-on-the-Lake
In historic NOTL there’s The Shaw. The first festival featured two plays by the well-known Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw and ran for just three weeks. Now celebrating its 50th year, it produces 10 to 12 plays in four theatres to audiences totaling about 300,000. The star play in this years’ line-up is the crowd-pleaser My Fair Lady, which runs until October 30th. Other productions include Shaw’s Heartbreak House and Candida, Tennessee William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and J.M Barrie’s The Admirable Crichton. On Sundays at 11pm, enjoy free music concerts at the Festival Theatre.
History Comes Alive
St. Jacob’s Village
As you wander down the small-town streets lined with quilt galleries, artist studios, bakeries, and even a broom maker, don’t be surprised if the sound of traffic is punctuated by the clip-clop sound of hooves. These horse-drawn buggies belong to Old World Mennonites, about 4000 of whom make the Waterloo region their home. Telling the Mennonite Story is an exhibit at the Visitors Centre, that tells you more about the history, faith and the way of life of these private, industrious people. You can also observe Mennonites on market days when some Old World farmers sell produce and handicrafts from the back of their buggies at the popular St. Jacob’s Market. Over 500 vendors offer everything from fruits and vegetables, meat and baked goods to antiques, furniture, fashion and houseware products. Open year-round on Thursdays and Saturdays, as well as Sundays in the summer.
St. Catharines
The Welland Canal was built to bypass Niagara Falls and had a huge impact on the economic development of the area; it’s also an impressive feat of engineering. At the Lock 3 Viewing Complex, you can witness large freighters navigating the lock as they carry cargo from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. There are seven locks in all lifting and lowering ships to a height of 326 feet. The complex is also the location of the St. Catharines Museum, where you can learn more about the history of the canal and the communities that built up around them. Other exhibits at the museum include Follow the North Star, looking at how fugitive slaves found freedom in Canada and Lacrosse, exploring North America’s oldest team sport.