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Niagara Falls
View from near horseshoe falls Well after leaving Winnipeg and jumping on a plane we headed to Hamilton (Hamilton being about halfway between Toronto and Niagara). We picked up our car and then proceeded to head off to Niagara Falls by what I like to describe as the most scenic way possible. Niagara Falls in really tacky especially around Clinton Hill (Think Cavill Ave gone mental). After we got over out initial shock we walked around to the falls which are amazing! The next day we headed up to Niagara on the lake. Talk about complete opposites, it was a beautiful little picture postcard town surrounded by wineries and B&Bs. If we had known before hand we would have stayed here instead of the falls area.
On our last day we went on the Maid of the Mist boat. It really was one of those must do things even though it is super touristy, so we put on our blue garbage bags/raincoats and proceeded to get absolutely drenched as we went near the base of the horseshoe falls.
Next was Toronto where we ramped up the touristy thing even more. We visited the Royal Ontario Museum, had a drink at the CN Tower, went
to the Casa Loma castle and wandered around the Hockey hall of fame. But the best of all was the Toronto Zoo because finally we managed to see the last animal that had eluded us, the beaver.
After an enjoyable 5 hour bus trip we reached Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Liz was stoked that we happened to walk through a BBQ rib festival along the main street so all we could see and smell for about 1km was a wall to wall mountain of pork. But we struggled through the mass of people and walked across the Rideau canal to the market area where we spent the rest of the afternoon on a hill in the sun overlooking the river and city eating cheese, pate, salami and a baguette. Yep it is a tough life that we lead. The next day feeling relaxed and refreshed we went on a tour a parliament house and then strolled along the waterfront and downtown.
The trip from Ottawa was the first we have done by train and it converted us to rail travel (beats the greyhound any day). At Montreal we found out that the next day was St Jean
Horseshoe falls
View from the maid of the mist Baptiste day otherwise know as Quebec day. So we headed out early the next day and went out to the old Olympic park where they had a big parade and a free concert. While the concert was good as it was all in French we only ended up staying for about half an hour before going to visit Parc Mont Royal and the islands around the St Lawrence river.
We stayed in a hostel near Rue Saint-Catherines which we found out the first night we were there is one of the largest gay districts in North America. It had it all, drag queens, transsexuals, bondage clubs and a lot of manly love. Though it also meant that Lizzy could safely walk by herself at night to get a snack when she got hungry.
Montreal was the first time we had poutine in Canada. For the uninitiated it is fries drenched in gravy and then covered in cheese curds. Yes we could feel out arteries harden as we ate it and also were not particularly surprised that it has not taken the world by storm.
Then it was off to Quebec city. At the Via rail station in
Quebec city, Lizzy showed off her French speaking abilities with a station worker whilst she was trying to explain to him that her luggage locker was broken. After attempts at sign language went nowhere, the phrase Consigne (locker), Jeton (key), Meeaahhh (Meeaahhh/broken) seemed to do the trick with the locker fixed in a matter of minutes and both of us trying not to burst out laughing.
Our arrival was accidentally timed to be about a week before the 400th anniversary of the founding of the ‘old city’. There were all sorts of extra celebrations and events they were setting up including a concert by Celine Dion (run away). We spent the majority of our time here just wandering through the cobblestone streets of the old city and port as well as a visit to the citadel and the Plains of Abraham (a park overlooking the river).
While in Montreal we had poutine in Quebec city, there was fondue. Yes it was the most we have spent on food in about 12 months but it was really, really, really good. We ended with a cheese, a beef and a chocolate fondue which took about 2.5 hours to eat. Though
Niagara Falls
View of both the American (near) and Horseshoe falls (far) we laughed at the nuns behind us who were cracking open bottles of wine like no tomorrow (maybe the vow of poverty is not as important as it used to be).
And then we were off to the US of A again!!!!
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