Unassuming Toronto, Gallic Montreal

---

For the fifth largest city in North America, Toronto doesn't make much of a fuss, though it's clean and safe, with only a very few beggars on the streets. (It did make headlines recently as the originator of the 'slut walks' protests, but, like many other things about Toronto, that's probably now forgotten.)

At the moment, it's proudest boast is the CN Tower, the largest single structure in the world. It took 40 months of continuous pouring of concrete to create it. We took 58 seconds in the lift (sorry, elevator) to get to the observation tower. The view was impressive, in spite of the weather closing in on us. Mary thought they should have worked the posh restaurant harder with all day dining. (I think she just fancied a meal up there!) At the level of the viewing tower, most of the flooring is only glass! Luckily, Mary didn't know that when she was walking around.

When we descended to street level, it started to rain. And the rain followed our coach party all the way out to the Niagara falls. So our tour guide had the inspired idea of taking us to the IMAX cinema there to give us a flavour of the history of the falls. The idea worked superbly. On exiting the cinema the sky was clearing and we had an excellent, if sweaty, trip in the Maid of the Mist, wearing silly blue bin bags with hoods to keep the spray out of our clothes. I enjoyed sneaking into US territory without a visa on the way to the falls. (By the way, the Canadians cleverly kept the commercial tat well concealed from the falls area - they had to get the Americans onside first, though.)

We returned to Toronto on the scenic route along the Niagara river past very plush homes and super views of the ravine. Then, in the evening, we had an excellent meal at the Red Lobster. We sat in the bar, drinking, while they prepared our table. Then the electronic gizmo that we had been given started to buzz violently to tell us our table was ready to receive us. The staff at the Red Lobster were very attentive, and friendly to everyone. Especially so to a couple of cheerful but physically handicapped girls who entered the restaurant just before us.

Next day, we took the train to Montreal. A slow train, and the Air Con was not working. So our tour guide complained about the heat in the carriage, and got us moved to another. So Mary and I spent the journey chatting to a French Canadian grandma, a young female researcher from Toronto (Slightly chinese-looking. Toronto has the 2nd largest Chinese community in North America) and a chemistry professor from Hamilton University, originally from Scotland.

For the first part of the journey, the sun shone brilliantly over the waters of Lake Ontario which was surprisingly empty. Where were all the week-end sailors? Latterly, the sky became duller, but never threatening.

Montreal looked much more European. Lots of skyscrapers just like Toronto, but lots of tree-lined avenues as well. Mind you, it had an underground shopping precinct stretching for 31 miles, which is too ambitious for European Cities. And, as in Toronto, the cheating banks had the biggest buildings.
Our guide, Frederic, took us to the Notre Dame Basilica, which was awe-inspiring but a bit depressing in its sombre colours.

On our first evening in Montreal, we dined at a rooftop terrace. I tried my best French on the waiters, successfully, but then failed to cope with their Gallic responses. Mary managed to get sunburn on her left arm there.

I learned 3 relevant (?) facts about Montreal. Firstly, it has 50,000 students at its main University. These are mostly American, because the drinking age in Canada is 18, as opposed to 21 in the USA. Secondly, it has probably the largest cemetery in the world (on Mount Royal of course) with over 1 million people buried there. Thirdly, the good citizens of Montreal spent 30 years paying off their Olympic Games debt after 1976. (Los Angeles, with its capitalist savvy showed how to make the games profitable in 1984.)

---