The weather and the scenery was indescribably BEAUTIFUL. It was nice to hit the road and be out of the city for awhile too. Fall colors, brisk air, clean streets, blue skies, ornate architecture and rainbows were just the start of our experience.
The vast majority of the pictures are on Simon's camera, but I couldn't resist sharing what I have now.
Niagara Falls was pretty impressive. After seeing pictures all your life, it's hard to recalibrate your mind to the real deal when you are there. I thought that they would be louder from above, but they weren't really, just a continuous dull roar. Ronnie insisted that Niagara is comparable to turning your bathwater on full force, and I have to say he wasn't far off. Still, with our "most perfect days in the history of the world" as Simon said, I was so happy to have gone. Here are pictures of them from ground level and above:
The top of the falls through the trees...
Tell me this is not breathtakingly gorgeous!!
Me and Simon under the rainbow
The view down
The falls from another park. There is a perpetual mist that rises up from all the crashing waters
We took a ride to the falls on the famed Maid of the Mist boat, and got those fancy schmancy and stylish ponchos
There are two major parts of the falls... one straight fall called "The American Falls" and the super impressive Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Of course they kept the good one for themselves but let them have it! They need the tourism more than we do. This is passing by the American Falls
...and from a passed angle
Coming up to the Horseshoe Falls
Simon has better pictures, but here's the Horseshoe Falls from the bottom
The funniest part was that Canada has really worked to profit off of the Falls, so from the Canadian side there are hotels, casinos, amusement parks, and bars galore. And across the water on the American side is really a ghost town!! We don't have to worry so much, we have more than waterfalls to our name ;)
After Niagara was the trek to Toronto, which is around Lake Ontario. You can actually see Toronto's skyline in the distance from literally hours away! Doesn't translate too well when you're zooming by in the backseat of a car that you're nauseous in. It's that tiny gray area on the horizon that is actually much more visible and distinguishable in person!
We found a hotel in the evening (talk about old school '70s decorating!!) relaxed a bit, and then tried to head out for some nightlife. Niagara Falls was good about taking both Canadian and American currency (which are pretty even now, sad to say), but Toronto wasn't as easy. We tried to take out Canadian money and had the following conversation with MULTIPLE people!!
"Excuse me, do you know if there's an ATM nearby?"
"What's that?"
"Like, a cash machine?"
"I've never heard of that"
"Oh, do you know where we can get any cash?"
"No, I'm not from around here"
WHAT IS THAT?!?! I'm not even exaggerating when I say that we had that exact scenario with the first 4 or 5 people we came into contact with!! We did see an "ABM" (Automated Banking Machine) and then even some ATM's downtown... but how do people not even know what they are?!
Downtown to Yonge Street, wandering down Bloor, we had dinner in a cozy study-turned-restaurant Irish pub in Yorkville and then went through the frigid air to find any bar we could! We found a pretty poppin' place called Hemingway's, but there was no music. We gave up and went to the one place we had really noticed: A swanky nightclub called {V}. After a cover charge, coat check charge, severely underdressed charge to the dignity, and a myriad of drinks, we were on the dance floor and it was when Dynamite came on that I finally just let loose and had a great time!! It was Song of Toronto and the Weekend
Also, they played Katy Perry's California Gurls, which only I could really dance to with any conviction! Toronto is also obsessed with Katy Perry, pictures and billboards everywhere, and subway ads of radio stations declaring THEY played the most Katy.
The next day we visited the CN Tower, the huge pointy structure that is the tallest one in the Western Hemisphere (formally in the world but surpassed by something in Dubai). It was a beautiful view over the Great Lake, which actually looks like an ocean.
Don't worry, I didn't recognize it either
And mixed with the beautiful fall colors... unbeatable
The view from the top along Lake Ontario
We then enjoyed the harbor nearby, passing the Rogers Stadium where most of the sports teams play, and the Toronto Marathon! It was too bad we couldn't get any of the Gatorade being passed out. There was also inexplicably a large number of nuns sunning on the sand behind us... ???
The Canada flag opened just on cue!
After that we visited and dined in the Chinatown district down Spadina St
We had just enough money to cover lunch with our Canadian currency with literally only change to spare... so we left some American money as a tip and got the hell out of there!
A drive down Yonge street followed, and then we made the trek back to NYC. Man was it brutal and long! The border patrol was the easiest it's been with no hassle whatsoever. We passed through beautiful upstate New York with autumn trees that look like postcards or that stock background "Autumn" on Windows PC computers, as well as small town America with clapboard houses, barns, one-church kinda roads. I slept for a lot though since I was so carsick in the backseat. Traffic didn't help either.
Eventually, I made it home and was in bed by about 2:20a! And I made it in early today... Kristin wins!
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