SUMMERSIDE

 One of the earliest accounts of a ship launching at Summerside seems like scenes from a dream: "a fully rigged schooner, drawn by a team of sinewy oxen, tailed by a crowd of wide-eyed school children for its launching into the ice of the harbour." The Age of Sail in this region was a time of great excitement and economic activity. Summerside has gained a reputation for hosting international level events, from softball tournaments to Highland Games. The college of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada is based in Summerside, and weekly concerts are held there.

View from Wharf of SUMMERSIDE

At the new waterfront development called Spinnaker's Landing, visitors enjoy a stroll among the shops or a snack at an open-air cafe accompanied by the sounds of musical entertainment. In fact this town espouses the "never a dull moment" philosophy, starting with the town crier's daily proclamation of high noon at Spinnaker's Landing, and continuing throughout the summer with a whole series of festivals and sports events.

City of Summerside

BURNIE

 Burnie is Australian's newest city, proclaimed by Her Majesty the Queen on 26th April, 1988. The rapid expansion of Burnie, now Tasmania's forth largest town, is based on one of the state's largest industrial enterprises, Associated Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd. Situated on Emu Bay, 148 km west of Launceston, Burnie has a busy deepwater port, which serves the west coast mining centres. Other important industries includes plants for the manufacture of titanium oxide pigments, dried milk, chocolate products and cheese. The area’s natural attractions include forest reserves, fossil cliffs, waterfalls and canyons and panoramic ocean views from nearby Round Hill.      

Tasmania North West Coast. View over the city of Burnie

Along its main streets are many attractive 19th-century buildings decorated with wrought ironwork. Today the city has shed its industrial character, although some industry survives, notably the Lactos company, which has won many awards for its French- and Swiss-style cheeses. The sampling room has tastings and a café. Burnie also has a number of gardens, including Fern Glade, where platypuses are often seen feeding at dusk and dawn. 

PORT WASHINGTON

Port Washington, with its touch of New England charm, is nestled on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan, just north of Milwaukee.  With its Art Deco lighthouse and picturesque harbor, it is as charming as any coastal village. Downtown is adjacent to the harbor and features the largest collection of pre-Civil War buildings in the state. Walking tours take visitors through the historic district, past lighthouses and memorials and into specialty shops such as an old-fashioned meat market and fish smokehouse. Enjoy lakefront festivals, spend a day sport fishing or bike the 30-mile Interurban Trail. Along the lakeshore, Harrington Beach State Park offers a mile of pristine beach along Lake Michigan. At this 715-acre state park you can camp, sunbathe, picnic, hike, bird watch, fish or practice astronomy.

For more information, log on to visitportwashington.com

NORWICH

 

City of Stories

Overlooked by most tourists, this compact city, made rich in the Middle Ages by the wool trade, has enough sightseeing to fill a long weekend, as well as interesting shopping (especially along St. Benedict's Street), excellent restaurants, and a vibrant arts scene due, in part, to the presence of the University of East Anglia. Exploration naturally starts at the Market Place, permanently covered by the striped awnings of a large, open-air market.

 THE GUILDHALL AND GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE

All around lie a host of flint-faced churches (32 medieval churches), as well as medieval streets such a cobbled Elm Hill, lined with overhanging and brightly plastered buildings. But the top sight has to be the cathedral, which features a magnificent display of over 1,000 multicolored roof bosses depicting dramatic scenes in miniature along its grand nave and around its cloisters. The large, serene cathedral close, with elegant Georgian houses, feels like a well-kept village.

ST JOHN'S CHURCH AND ST GILES STREET

Norwich has no shortage of museums. The largest, in the castle complex, excels in its enormous teapot collection and galleries of works by John Crome and John Sell Cotman, outstanding landscape artists of the well-respected Norwich School. Also enjoyable are the Bridewell Museum, a nostalgic look at Norwich's industries, and Stranger's Hall, a rambling, old merchant's house.

VisitNorwich: The City of Stories