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Published: October 23rd 2007
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We just got back last night from our latest road trip.
There were eight of us; Four Australians (Tim, Jim, Ged and myself), one Egyptian (Melina), one French (Sophie), one Kiwi (Chris) and one Brit (Hazel). We got in a rented eight seater minivan and headed for the border at about 4pm on Friday arvo.
It was a long drive, big props to Ged who drove both ways. We got to Buffalo (New York State, near the border) around 10:30pm. It was really really windy. We went to a pub in the middle of town for dinner. Three of use were underage, but the Buffalo bartender didn't seem to mind. We got Buffalo wings and awful awful American beer. If they can put a man on the moon, surely they can brew a beer that doesn't taste like it's freshly extracted from a living biological organism... Anyway I digress.
After dinner we got back in the van for the short drive to the border. We had to get out of the car and have our passports stamped but it wasn't a big deal. Soon after we arrived in Niagara Ontario and checked into our hostel. It was quite
Buffalo
It was really windy. nice, and run by a guy from the Gold Coast.
We got up at 9am, ate our included breakfast which wasn't too bad, and then headed for the falls. To get there we walked through downtown Toronto which was horrible. It was like a theme park. Have a look at my photos. We fought through the tackiness of the town and made our way to the falls.
I was expecting a worthwhile experience, but when we got to the falls I was completely taken aback. It was amazing. I felt like I was in a movie. We all stood around in silent awe for a while, before taking three million photos each, an then we went down to go on the Maid of the Mist, which is a boat tour which takes you right to the foot of the waterfall. It cost $14, and we were a little iffy on whether to do it, but it was completely worth it. Very exhilarating. We got completely saturated. I am so glad I have a waterproof camera, I got some really good shots. They're all up on facebook along with the rest of the photos from the trip.
We
left Niagara at about 1pm and headed for Toronto. It seemed a little unimpressive as we were driving in, but having spent some time there it seems like a city with a lot of depth and substance. It reminded me a lot of Melbourne. We checked into the Canadia Backpackers Hostel (Highly recommended - cheap, great location, clean and friendly staff) and then headed to the CN tower, which is the tallest building in the world. We payed and did the tour to the observation deck. The skypod (which is a bit higher) was close because of the weather (which was really nice, 22C and calm). Odd. Anyway there was a great view from the deck. There's a glass floor just below the deck which is a little scary to stand on. But apparently it can hold the weight of 14 large hippos, which is good because that's just a little bit under the amount of weight I've gained since I've been in America.
After CN we went for Dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Mizu on King Street. The place was really nice, and the food was awesome. I had Sashimi, Sushi, Makimonos and Imported Japanese beer. It
The worst tourist town ever
On the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. was quite expensive but well worth it.
After dinner, we headed back to the hostel, showered and got ready for a night out on the town (very exciting for the three of us that are underage in the US, and also exciting for the others used to the State College nightlife - Toronto has trumps). So we had to decide between two cluns - both of which have claim to being "one of the best in the world" according to word of mouth. One (Circa) was literally 15 metres from our doorstep, the other (The Guvernment) a short cab ride away. Both had a $20 cover. After much deliberation we decided to split up into two groups. It would have been hard for us to all stick together, because there were eight of us and none of our American cell phones worked in Canada. The club they went to has seven rooms and a capacity of 7,000. Melina, Tim, Sophie and Jim went to the Guvernment (hosted that night by one Paris Hilton) and the rest of us hit the bars on the main strip. We went to three bars and sampled a considerable quantity of local beer. Much
better than the US beer, but still not up to Australian standards in my humble opinion. After the third bar and plenty of social lubricant, we decided that we weren't up for going to the club across the road, and instead proceeded to fall asleep within four milliseconds.
We got up at 9am for free pancakes in the lobby, but by the time we got our shit together at 9:15, the pancakes were all gone. Melina and Sophie weren't able to get up, an the others were in another room that we couldn't get access to, so Hazel and I went off to find somewhere to eat breakfast. We were told by some street crazies to go to Cora's. The weather was really nice, as it was all weekend. Late october in Canada and we didn't even need jumpers. It never got below 17C for the whole trip. We got to Cora's and waited in line for half an hour before having an awesome breakfast, plenty of fresh fruit, crepes, panini and maple syrup. I vaguely remembered the menu from when I went to Canada in 2003/04. Very nice. By the time we got back though and got our
stuff packed up though it was 11:30, and the check out time was 10:30. We avoided a charge, but the others had gone off for breakfast. They left us a note saying to call them on the walkie-talkie (which Jim thoughtfully bought at Walmart before we left, knowing our cell phones wouldn't work - we had a lot of fun with those walkie-talkies...) We tried but we couldn't get hold of them. Hazel and I headed downtown to the shopping district and got some advice from the locals on where to go. The shopping is really good in Toronto. There's a lot of culture there too - street performers and generally strange people walking around. There is some beutiful architecture as well - unfortunately my camera battery died on Sunday morning so I didn't get any photos. We went to a Korean grill for Lunch - which was an all you can eat BBQ. There was a grill in the middle of the table an they bring you out strips of raw pork, beef, fish, squid and chicken, and you cook it yourself. They also bring out rice and Kimchee and salads. It was only $7 each and very very
good. We hit Yonge street at about 3pm, which was amazing. The mall there is huge, there's some really good clothes shops. We found $300 jeans. I don't get it. Unfortunately we had to be back at the hostel by 3:40 so we didn't get to see much. We left Toronto a bit after 4pm and got back to State College at midnight.
It was a great trip, the only disappointment was that we didn't get more time to see Toronto. I could easily spend a week there just wandering around. Anyway the next road trip I think will be Chicago for thanksgiving. I hope to get to Philadelphia sometime soon, possibly during finals week in late December.
Lots of love,
Renan.
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