From September 20 to October 3, seventeen members of FFNH traveled to Ontario, Canada and spent a week each with the Friendship Force clubs of Niagara and Hamilton/Burlington.

A trip to Niagara would never be complete without a visit to Niagara Falls, including a ride to the top of the Skylon Tower and on the boat, Hornblower, to the base of the Horseshoe Falls. A tour of Fort Erie gave us all a history lesson on the War of 1812. We spent a few hours at the Reif Winery which included a tasting of several of their wines. We visited Willowbank, a lovely estate on the banks of the Niagara River which is being used as a living classroom in a diploma program for restoration arts.

We learned about the First Nations at the First Nations Peace Monument and spent some time meandering around lovely Niagara-on-the-Lake. Also very important to this area is the ship travel between Lakes Ontario and Erie. We got a walking tour of the areas of the first canals built between the two lakes and then went to the current canal where we were just in time to see a ship travel through Lock #3.

Our second week was spent with the Hamilton/Burlington club. We went to the famous theater town of Stratford and saw either Shakespeare’s ‘Coriolanus’ or ‘The Music Man’. We toured Dundurn Castle, guided by the ‘butler,’ who gave us an upstairs/downstairs view. In Toronto, we explored the University of Toronto, the Financial District and the Yorkville district. We saw an exhibition of Inuit carvings at the TD Bank. We visited the Burlington Art Gallery and had lots of fun with a ‘foot rally’ (scavenger hunt) through the town of Oakville. Many of us also visited the Royal Botanical Gardens on our free day with our hosts.

Many of us stayed with the ambassadors who we had hosted on their journeys to our club. It was a special pleasure to get to know each of them better and to deepen our friendships.

To read the complete journal compiled by the ambassadors who traveled to Ontario, click here.