Barbara Lehtiniemi is a writer and photographer from Ontario. She’s a graduate of Athabasca University, having completed her Bachelor of General Studies degree in 2018.
A regular contributor to The Voice Magazine for over ten years, Barbara has also contributed to other publications including Chicken Soup for the Soul and Maclean’s. Barbara writes in several genres, including non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. She’s eternally grateful to The Voice Magazine for providing the opportunity to explore an array of topics and writing styles.
Barbara has a fondness for travel, used bookstores, everyday absurdities, and oversized wine glasses. Originally from urban Southwestern Ontario, she now lives on a windswept rural road in Eastern Ontario.
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city of about 236,000 in southwestern Germany. Known simply as Freiburg, the city was founded in 1120 as a free market town. Its location on the Rhine plain and its proximity to established trade routes ensured its success as a trade centre. The University of Freiburg was founded in 1457… Read more »
This week, we resume our tour of selected European cities. Konstanz (often called “Constance” in English) sits at the western end of Lake Constance in south Germany. The Swiss border passes just to the south of the city, which encompasses both banks of the Rhine River. Settlement in the area goes back to at least… Read more »
Cambridge is a city of around 140,000 in southwestern Ontario. The city was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of the city of Galt, the towns of Preston and Hespeler, and a few surrounding villages. The three main founding communities grew to prominence in the 1800s as mill and manufacturing towns, centred along the Grand… Read more »
Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, hugs the south shore of the Ottawa River in southeastern Ontario. Originally the site of an Algonquin settlement, the city was first known as Bytown when it was founded in 1826. The name was changed to Ottawa in 1855, and the city was selected as Canada’s capital city (beating… Read more »
Toronto is the capital of the province of Ontario, and it is Canada’s most populous city (and North America’s fourth-most populous, after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles.) The city hugs the western end of Lake Ontario. The area was frequently used by Indigenous peoples and, in a controversial purchase by the British,… Read more »
Iqaluit is Canada’s northernmost city, and is the capital of Nunavut. The city, originally named Frobisher Bay, sits at the head of Frobisher Bay. Iqaluit, which means ” place of many fish” is a traditional fishing area for the Inuit. The United States build the Frobisher Bay Air Base in 1942, and its airstrip is… Read more »
Quebec City is the capital of the province of Quebec, and Canada’s twelfth-largest city. European settlement began on the site in 1608 and took the Algonquin name that meant “where the river narrows.” That river is known today as the St Lawrence. The city’s old sections retain a European flavour. The Historic District of Old… Read more »
Dawson City, with a current population of less than 2000, is Yukon’s former capital and its second-largest city. The city site, at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike rivers in western Yukon, had long been an important fishing and hunting base for the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin First Nation and their forebears before the Klondike Gold… Read more »
St John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, is Canada’s easternmost city. The city is on the Avalon Peninsula in southeast Newfoundland, facing the Atlantic Ocean. The site of seasonal fishing camps centuries ago, the large protected harbour made St John’s an attractive location for a major trading centre. St John’s was established as a… Read more »
We interrupt our tour of Europe to feature some Canadian cities. Although I have visited two territories and all ten provinces of Canada, I don’t have photos from cities in every area of the country. Instead, I’ll lead you on a scattershot tour of Canada beginning with—where else?—Athabasca, Alberta. Athabasca, nestled on the south side… Read more »