September Week 2

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Montreal Visit:
We returned home Saturday evening from Montreal. This is a picture of the city. It is on an island with the St. Lawrence River going around it. Looks like a lot of smog to us. We took a bus ride around the city.

This is the Montreal Temple and it is the same floor plan as the Palmyra Temple. We felt like we were at home. We did one session in English, another in French and also did some baptisms and sealings.

This is the Citadel in Montreal; we saw it on the bus trip.

Alexandria Bay/Thousand Islands Visit:

This is the boat trip we took of Thousand Islands (Alexandria Bay) and we are on the St. Lawrence River. The international boundary runs down the river going around the islands so they are not split between two nations.

This is the most famous of the summer homes on the islands. It is the Boldt Castle built in the early 1900's by Mr. George Boldt for his wife, Louise. It has six stories from the foundation level of the indoor swimming pool to the highest tower room, an elevator served over 120 rooms. It has Italian Gardens, an arch entry for launches, delivering guests from larger yachts anchored in deep water, the Alster Tower (a play house with bowling alley, stage for plays), the Power House, underground passages and a Yacht House across the water on Wellesley Island. He owned 3,000 acres of islands. He made his money in the Astoria New York Hotel. On with the love story, he was well into three years having the castle built when his wife died suddenly. He stopped construction and never returned to that island again. It was eventually sold to the Thousand Island Bridge Authority and they immediately began a rehabilitation program. It was empty for about 75 years. Vandals did a number on it. They have put 20 million dollars into restoring it.

This is the gazebo on Heart Island where we went through the Boldt Castle.

Paul and Elder Crookston taking a rest from all the sight seeing.

Toronto Visit:

Now we are in Toronto going through our first castle the Casa Loma Castle built by Sir Henry Pellett. He and his wife lived in the lodge while the castle and the stables were being built. He had an underground passage way between the three. This is the stables. He was in the Queens Rifle Regiment. He made his money in the stock market, building the hydro electric plant at Niagara Falls and some other things. He also went broke and had to sell it and it also fell into disarray and vandals also took their toll on it. The City now owns it and the Kiwanis Club has taken it over. They do lots of weddings etc. there now. Paul again having a wonderful time

This is the Toronto Temple. It is a midsized temple and very beautiful. We went a couple of times while we were there.

This is the home we stayed in. We got smart and found someone close to the temple who rents out rooms to people coming to the temple. It only cost us $30 a night.

What a wonderful week. In case you think we did not work this week, we did do inventory on Monday and cleaned the temple on Tuesday before we left. Have a great week.