A streetcar named Toronto

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Hello. Yes I know there was/is no such thing as a streetcar named Toronto, but Toronto has trams and trams are rather cool. The way the locals say Toronto is "Tronno" and if you are unable to pronounce it like that then you are lame and not worthy of being an honorary Torontonian. If there is such a thing.

The suburbs immediately surrounding the "downtown" area of Toronto are arranged in the same grid-style city block layout as most North American cities, but it has a distinct London feel to it, with the Chinatown area and the Kensington markets which is kind of like a cross between Camden Town, but without all the stupid Goths, and Finsbury Park, but without all the Kebab shops. Down the other end, downtown, yo, is a giant needle called the CN Tower that overlooks Lake Ontario. They say it is a communications tower but it has a restaurant at its highest publicly accessable point.

Two things Toronto has going for it - the first is it's public transport system. The City has a true three-tiered citywide rail system that encompasses a regional railway, an undergound or "subway" for the city, and local trams. Despite this there are still a shiteload of cars on the roads and they all have funny plugs sticking out of the grille so you can plug in an electric blanket so the radiator doesnt freeze. And I am told it gets cold here. Verrry cold.

The second thing about greater Toronto is it's proximity to Niagra Falls. Any patriotic Canadian that you speak to will proudly claim that the view of the falls is far better from the Canadian side of the border, and the view from the US side, quite frankly, sucks. I am inclined to beleive this boast as I cannot see for the life of me, how anyone would even be able to see the falls from the US side of the border. The roar of the falls, whichever way you look at it, will stay with you for life though. Something silly like 100,000 cubic feet of water rush over the falls every second. In summer time, the falls would truly be a sight to behold. Even now in late autumn, the mist cloud from the falls envelopes part of the casino/shopping/wanky tourist strip that run right by the falls.

But all good things must come to an end, and I can't keep crapping on about Niagra Falls forever. Time to leave the stylin' streets of Tronno and make my way west. I would also like to thank Mel and Tara for putting me up for a few days while I was in town and getting me drunk and ferrying me here and there - it has certainly made my North American trip worthwhile.

So with that, its out west for me and to San Fransisco. I hope its a bit warmer there.

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Photos

All the water has to go somewhere!
These are the rapids (not shown in the photo) that you are NOT allowed to "shoot"