It's Cold outside

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Hello One & All,

First off, unfortunately we can't connect to the usb ports of the computers, that means for now we can't upload photos. Hopefully some of the hostels on our travels will but until then it's just text.

When you read that somewhere is -10 degrees C and you should take another 10 degrees C off for wind chill it's hard to believe... Until now, wow it's cold. The hostel's fine, we've had a quad room with two bunk beds. We've only had to share for two nights with an Ozzy called Nathan who was friendly, (he was on his way back to London). I got a top bunk (yey!) with Debbie sleeping below me. We've been eating very healthy breakfasts of pancakes & maple syrup (our excuse is it's free).

The nice thing about Toronto (downtown) is that you can walk through most of it underground in a kind of shopping centre. We learned to use this as it's a lot better getting lost at room temperature!

We read that there were free public swimming baths, what we missed was that they all seem to be outdoor, not so good when it's -10 degrees C. The ice skating rinks were also free but Debbie had already fallen over on some ice without putting skates on so we gave it a miss. We've been up to the highest building in the world, the CN tower. The views are good and it's one of those things you have to do to say you've done it. We also visited the BATA shoe museum, actually a lot more interesting than it sounds. We also went to the Royal Ontario Museum, they've got some massive totem poles. Another place we went to was Casa Loma ( a modern day built medieval castle, good but not as good as the fairytale castle near Cardiff). We also made the effort to go to the zoo as I wanted to see a polar bear, we got to see that as well as an orangutan either chew then spit out or simply regurgitate food a a baby one to eat. Pretty sick but compelling viewing...

The main reason we chose Toronto was to see Niagara Falls. We'd arranged a trip which we didn't realise would be a pretty small group (only 6 of us) with our tour guide Kathy in an old minibus chugging all the way. On the way we stopped at a vinyard and tried some ice wine. It's really sweet stuff but not my "cup-of-tea". Debbie seemed to like it though. At the Falls itself it was a cold day AGAIN but well worth itto see a whole lot of water. Around Niagara it's like Blackpool full of cheese and tack, funny to look at from outside though. We did end up watching a 4D show about the legend of Niagara which involved 3d glasses and splashes of water and fans blowing. Brilliant.

Anyway it's L.A next where we look forward to defrosting and that's "aboot" it.

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Photos

Deb and Moose
Debbie's already pulled within days of going to a new country!

CN Tower
The tallest building in the World to date. Ooooooooooooooh.

Ice Winery
Us at the ice winery. Too sweet for my taste but Deb's liked it. The grapes are actually picked when it's gone below -10 degrees C.

Ice Trees
This tree is pretty close to the falls. The mist freezes on it. It took a bit too clamber up and back down without falling.

Niagara (Horse shoe)
The main falls. Breathtaking (and not just because of the cold)

Comments

[Lono]

What?
You watched a 4D show?? You crossed the time-space barrier?!?! Man, dem Canadians are hardcore... Oh, and I formally announce my intention to woo Debbie's moose. Debbbie's other moose. The one with the hat and red jumpsuit.