Niagara Falls

I don’t really have a travel bucket list. I want to go everywhere and see everything but if I did have a list then Niagara Falls would be on it. When we were in New York we toyed with the idea of a day trip but it was too cold and too far. I’m glad we didn’t go then because if we had then we mightn’t have gone today and I think it’s safe to say that the view from the Canadian side must be superior to the view from the US.

We booked our tour from Australia, based on TA reviews. We had to meet the bus in town and we still had an hour on our bike share so we were confident of making the 8am departure. Unfortunately, there were only two bikes on the rack when we got there so Geoff had to walk. It’s a good thing he’s a fast walker!

The trip to Niagara was interesting. The driver was knowledgeable and so we learnt quite a bit about Canadian history and to break up the trip, (140kms) we made a few stops. I’m not entirely sure of the reason behind some of the stops but I imagine the tourist network is a closely linked organisation. It did remind me a bit of our trip to the Cuchi tunnels in Vietnam – we’ll just stop at my brother’s cousin’s sister in laws café for a snack in case we can’t find food later! The first stop was at Niagara on the Lake, a picturesque little retirement/tourist mecca, reminiscent of Hahndorf, with nicely restored colonial buildings and a magnificent view out over Lake Ontario to the United States on the other shore. It was here that much of the battle for Canadian territory between England and America took place.

Niagara on the Lake

Next stop, a fruit stand featuring the smallest wayside chapel in Canada. Interesting. I bought a lot of cherries and two giant apples (in case I got hungry later).

After that, a winery where the speciality is ‘ice wine’. This syrupy concoction is made in the depth of Winter from frozen grapes, picked at midnight and trampled by fairies (ok, I made up the fairy bit). Anyway, it’s very expensive because each grape only yields a tiny drop. Either 11 am is too early for me to taste wine or someone is having me on because I’d rather scull a glass of maple syrup than that stuff.

Ice wine

We also stopped at what is purported to be the largest floral clock in the world. I think the Melbourne City Council might choose to disagree but it did provide an option for a toilet break. Eventually we made it to our destination, Niagara. Maybe it was the ice wine but somehow Geoff convinced me that a helicopter flight over the falls would be a great way to see the big picture. He was right! I nearly wet my pants as the chopper took off (I blame the wine drinking again) but after that I was too mesmerised by the view to be scared.

Turn your head sideways, I can't figure how to rotate!

Back on the ground we tried another vantage point, this time on the Hornblower boat to the base of the falls. Any other time a boat ride with a hundred other sardines in pink plastic ponchos would seem absurd, but the company was irrelevant. To top it off, we walked the length of the bank to see the display from yet another angle. On July 4^th, Niagara is crawling with people on both sides of the river border and the banks are littered with outrageous, gaudy attractions. I never fail to be bemused by the extent to which humans can take a natural resource of such beauty and turn it into a carnival – but remarkably, none of this takes away the majesty of the falls. It is simply awe inspiring.

When we come again to Canada, (I already know once will not be enough), we will stay in Niagara and take the time to fully appreciate the beauty and power of the landscape.

DIY Hop on, hop off

We have some tried and tested strategies for warding off jet lag

• ·      DO NOT SLEEP until it’s bed time at your destination. This is the most important one. We did let Taine have a little nap on the plane because it’s entertaining to kiss him and take ridiculous photos of him with his jaw hanging open but apart from that, NO SLEEPING.
• ·      Eat whatever is offered to you as well as the M & Ms and Pringles stashed in your carry on ( it passes some time, you don’t feel so ripped off about the airfares and I’m sure there’s a valid medical reason about blood sugar or something)
• ·      Drink lots of water. My rule is double water to every alcoholic or caffeine beverage. Yes, that’s a lot of water. Yes, I had to go to the toilet a lot – that’s also good because it means you have to move your legs and you’re less likely to die from a DVT.
• ·      Get some exercise as soon as you get off the plane.

So far, these strategies seem to have done the job. We all slept from 9.30pm till around 5 this morning and woke up feeling pretty good.

It’s the Canada Day public holiday here today so the streets were pretty much deserted when we left the hotel after our North American style breakfast of waffles and bagels. With no real plan in mind we set off to explore the city, first on foot and then via the magnificent Toronto bike share program. We thought about the Hop on, hop off bus but it was over $100, whereas the bikes were $7 each for 24 hours! No contest. We’ve used bike share in a few cities but I reckon this is the best serviced with bike banks every few blocks. There’s an awesome, dedicated exercise path along the waterfront, bike lanes on most of the major roads and a population tolerant of old ladies riding on the pavement when the traffic gets too hairy.

Our first stop was the water front area. It was a picture perfect day for sightseeing and the harbour looked lovely – apart from the litter, which seems to be a bit of a problem here. I’d love to see this space in the Winter when the ponds are frozen but given how chilly the water was today in mid Summer, I’m not sure I’d want to partake of any water sports. The big drawcard at the waterfront was a giant, yellow rubber duck, apparently commissioned at a tax payer cost of $150K to celebrate the sesquicentenary. Bizarre!

Happy 150th Canada

We had a wander in the free art gallery where there was an interesting but confronting exhibition made up of sculptured wooden figures. I’d like to know enough about art to fully appreciate this sort of work but I don’t. Mostly I just worry about the way the mind of the artist works.

When we’re on holidays I try to book places that include breakfast and I encourage everyone to eat well enough to last them through to dinner. That’s probably not going to work now that we have an unfillable teenager with us and besides, we stumbled upon a Canadian version of Wholefoods with a hot food buffet bar that we couldn’t pass up.

The food fortified us enough to keep riding, down through the distillery district, up to the old town and then across to the Toronto Easton Centre, Canada’s answer to Chadstone. We did a wee bit of shopping as a reward for packing lightly ;-)

Easton Centre

The degree of difficulty associated with bike riding is doubled by the fact that the traffic comes from a different direction for us. We were constantly screaming ‘look right’ as Taine gung hoed his way through the city but eventually we made it back to Chinatown in one piece.

The architecture in the city is pretty boring, very rectangular and industrial except for parts of the old city and some of the side streets in Chinatown where remnants of a more creative building period remain. So far the stand out about Toronto is the warmth and friendliness of its people. Everyone has been lovely and so obliging, from the shopkeepers to the people in the street who ask if you need help before you even need it! It feels like a very liveable place.

Tonight we ate at Burger’s Priest (I don’t know why the apostrophe is there – either the priest belongs to the burger or the sign writer got it wrong or the owners’ grammar needs work). I’d read great reviews about it and it was nearby. The burgers were OK but the fries were cruddy- not a patch on the poutine from last night.

Also found a bottle shop across the road so we can nightcap with a lovely French merlot.

To Canada

Coming off the back of arguably the hardest term in the history of teaching, we’ve taken off in an attempt to make our first complete circumnavigation of the globe.

In a family where I am not the organised one and Geoff is OCD about the way the plates are lined up in the dishwasher, we have an interesting reversal of roles when it comes to travel planning. Months out I have an itinerary, flights and accommodation booked, kilometres between stop overs meticulously recorded, a google doc and a google map with places of interest colour coded and menus of possible restaurants saved in my bookmarks. Geoff and Taine have a vague idea that we’re going somewhere in Canada, followed by Ireland. I have separate packing cells for each type of clothing, pages of notes about each destination and a bag full of pills and potions for every possible travel illness. Geoff gets up the day we go, throws 4 pairs of undies, 2 tshirts and his black shorts in a bag and off we go. Once we get to the airport however, the roles reverse. I hand over all the plans and my passport and Geoff takes control. I don’t drive, I don’t barter with shop keepers and, where possible, I don’t carry things.

We might have forked out the price of a small (second hand) car in airfares but we are very frugal travellers at heart so we spent our pre flight night at the Ibis Budget at the airport. Budget is an accurate description. You couldn’t swing a cat in the tiny room with 2 single beds under an overhead bunk, reminiscent of the cabin on the Spirit of Tasmania.

Luckily on our trek to the airport at 3.30 am we came across some abandoned trolleys outside Maccas. Clearly other budget travellers had passed this way before.

We checked into our Australia – Canada leg at Melbourne domestic. Because all the flights are on one ticket, despite transferring in Sydney and Vancouver, our bags were checked all the way through to Toronto. Too easy.

Transit in Vancouver

All we had to do was get on and off the plane at the appropriate times and although 19 hours is an unnaturally long time to sit in a metal tube, at least there weren’t any tedious airport stop overs.

We lost track of the time zone changes but at the end of the (very) long day, we had travelled 17,000 km, seen the sun rise twice over the wing of the plane and travelled back in time 14 hours.

Luckily the food on Air Canada was reasonable and the drinks cart passed frequently. Like very hungry caterpillars we ate our way through 3 breakfasts, a lunch, a dinner, 3 rounds of bourbon, 2 bottles of wine, copious coffee and the entire contents of the snack cart that they store near the rear toilets.

No one really slept and we arrived in Toronto exactly 24 hours after taking off from Melbourne with that dazed and foggy feeling that only new mothers and long distance travellers can understand.

Still feeling the burn of being ripped off by a taxi driver in Paris a couple of years ago, we opted for the UP Express train to the city. This was a great deal at $25 for a family ticket. The train deposited us at Union station, right beside the Rogers Centre where the fans were just spilling out after a Blue Jays game. It felt a bit like landing on the set of an American movie – hundreds of people in blue and white baseball gear, hot dog stalls on the sidewalk etc.

On the map, it didn’t look all that far to our hotel in Chinatown so we set off walking. Some nice Canadians took pity on our puzzled map studying and offered directions. They said it probably was a bit far to walk but of course that just added to the challenge! Given we’d left home in 3C, the sunny 28C was a tad warm but at least the exercise helped level out the melatonin and by the time we got to the Downtown Super 8 (super being quite a strong superlative in this case) we were wide awake.

There’s an abundance of fast food in Chinatown. We settled on ‘Franks’, a hamburger and hot dog joint where we had our first encounter with poutine. Poutine is like Clarke’s chips with cheese & gravy on steroids. Our fries were covered in gravy, pulled pork, onions, tomatoes, cheese curds – and an egg! Definitely near the top of the list of best things ever eaten.

Back to the Super 8, shower, blog, bed.