Ah, an English-speaking territory

---

Ottawa - la capital du Canada

Finally we’re back in an English speaking territory! Arriving in Ottawa on Saturday evening, we spent the night in a University of Ottawa dorm room that serves as a hostel during summer break. Ottawa feels like London, especially around the Parliament building where the English architecture dominates the landscape and the changing guard ceremony is as colorful as the Buckingham Palace one. Other than around the Parliament complex, tourists are hardly spotted in Ottawa.


Toronto

Toronto is a modern city, and it feels like we are back in North America. A lot of things are going on, from Toronto's busy street with cars and loud pedestrian crossings that beep all the time, people are dressing up in funky style, and tall modern looking buildings and shopping malls. Our visit to the top of the CN tower, which stands next to the Toronto Superdome, was very intriguing: at the top of the tower, there is a section where the floor is made out of glass, and people can walk on it. It felt like I was walking mid-air when gliding across the glass; I was a little bit nervous when some small kids were jumping up and down all around me testing the strength of the floor.


Niagara Falls

With a Greyhound bus from Toronto, we finally arrived in the MIGHTY Niagara Falls park, where the two giant waterfalls: the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls crash into a river about 180 feet below. The noise caused by the falls was deafening; especially when we managed to ride the Maid of the Mist, a boat tour that brings spectators to the middle of the action, close to the Horseshoe Falls. They guaranteed that everybody would get wet; thus they gave us each a blue raincoat to wear.

Many people have attempted to override the falls inside a wooden barrel, and only a few survived to tell the story. Instead of doing something stupid like that, we visited Hard Rock Cafe Niagara Falls - Canada to check out their casino before heading back to Toronto.

City of Niagara Falls, Ontario

---

Photos

Parliament Building, Ottawa
Just feels like London.

Parliament Tower, Ottawa
A new photographic style?

CN Tower, Toronto
Looking up at the CN Tower.

Horseshoe Falls
Me standing in front of the Horseshoe Falls.

Lady of the Mist
L-R: Johnschen, myself, Siska, Ucup, and Johnschen's gf.