Kingston, Ontario

Kim’s Korner:
We were headed to Canada - another big milestone for us! As soon as we crossed over the US/Canadian border – on the water in our boat – David and I both got a text from AT&T saying that roaming charges would be applied since we were now in Canada. That was kind of impressive as we didn’t really realize we had actually crossed the border but who would have ever thought that AT&T would be the one to notify us?
We chose Confederation Basin Marina in Kingston, Ontario because we would be able to process through Canadian Customs from the marina. The rule is that once your boat is anchored or tied to a dock – basically touching Canadian soil in some way, the Captain only must report to Customs with passports of all people onboard the boat. David used a designated public pay phone near the marina that has a toll free number posted on a sign to Canadian Customs. I was not to get off the boat until David returned. After a quick phone call, David returned and that was all there was to it.
After a call to AT&T to get the whole Canada thing worked out, we headed out in search of a Canadian flag which we could fly from Overtime. This is considered a courtesy to Canadians. The American Flag is flown as well and there is a definite protocol on where each is to be placed. While attaching the Canadian flag to Overtime, David realized our American flag was gone so after another trip to the hardware store and attaching the American flag to Overtime, she was ready for our adventure through Canada.
By that time, we really only had a few hours left to get the most out of Kingston since we were leaving the next day so we decided to take the Trolley Tour. We were glad we had chosen to do this as we got to see the highlights of Kingston and learn a little bit about the history in a short amount of time. In the pictures, you will see cylindrical towers with red roofs which we had seen when approaching the harbor and wondered what they were. They are towers, built around 1813, that were used to defend Canada in case of an invasion by the United States. I realized that after all this American history I’d been receiving throughout this trip would now take on the perspective from another country… interesting… I can do that.
In 1840, Kingston had a fire that destroyed a good portion of the city. That resulted in a law requiring any building of importance was to be constructed of limestone or brick.

Pictures!