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Published: July 10th 2007
Niagra Falls
The Horse shoe
The Ice Fields
Niagra Falls Hi everyone,
well where getting there, slowly but surely. By my reckoning (seeings as we are in Japan) we are about 2 weeks behind, so we'll catch up eventually! Anyway we flew out of Santiago and to be honest we were both a bit gutted at leaving South America! That surprised me as it wasn't really my choice to go there, it was claire's. We really loved the continent, and as long as your not stupid, the scare stories are rubbish! We will defo go back to do Argie, Brazil and Southern Chile! After a damn long flight via Miami we got to Toronto. As we stepped off the plane we nearly died. We had been freezing to death in the Chilean winter for god knows how long and were dressed accordingly! Unfortunately for us at that moment Toronto was having a heat wave! The temps were between 85%!a(MISSING)nd 90%!a(MISSING)nd the humidity was high! We started pissing sweat within seconds! After paying for the Airport bus we got to our Hostel - Canadiana, in Downtown Toronto. The city is really cool and is based on the shores of the lake! You may already know that Toronto is
Under the Falls walk
Me and Claire pose no more than10 yds to the left of the falls, about halfway down! home to the world's tallest building (CN Tower at 553.33 m) and that the world's longest street starts at the City's lakeshore (Yonge Street at 1,896 km), but did you know that Toronto is as far south as the French Riviera or that more people live in Toronto than in Canada's four Atlantic provinces combined?
A Short History of Toronto
People have lived in the Toronto region on the north shore of Lake Ontario for almost 11,000 years since the first indigenous people moved here from the south after the ice age. Direct contact with Europeans occurred in the 17th century, and the French built small trading posts here during the 18th, but the birth of the urban community did not occur until the British regime. In 1787, the Toronto area was purchased from the Mississaugas; then in 1793, a military post and civilian town were established to improve the colony's defences during a period of threatened American invasion. They named his settlement ‘York' and moved the provincial capital here from the vulnerable border village of Niagara.
By 1901, the industrial, commercial, financial, and institutional centre had a population of 208,000, which rose to 667,500 by
1941. During these years, Toronto began to compete with Montreal as the nation's premier centre, not only economically, but also culturally, as exemplified by the founding of the Royal Ontario Museum in 1912 and the Toronto Symphony in 1922. Toronto's population eventually surpassed Montreal's in 1976, by which time the city had become Canada's most important economic and cultural engine.
Today's Toronto is a large and complex urban centre continues to flourish as a tremendously exciting city, embracing a strong and prospering economy, rich cultural underpinnings, and retaining its long heritage as a comparatively safe, orderly, and inclusive community, where working and living conditions are among the very best to be had on the planet. At least according to people who live there!
Anyway Canadiana was a really well run hostel but our room was tiny and it stunk! There were two lads in the room and it smelt like they hadnt washed for weeks! On top of that the aircon was knackered! We got changed into more suitable clothes and buggered off to explore the city. Toronto is cool and has everything you would expect, we booked a trip to Niagra and then went out for
Me and Monica
Posing for a photo in Tacky town Niagra! Monica was a cool Kiwi we met on our tour! dinner. We found this sound texas grill bar type place and luckily enough they were doing a buy one get one free on a Fajita platter! So we indulged in a huge chicken and steak fajita platter each, and our customary beers and Claire had a huge rasberry Daquiri. The best thing was it didnt cost the earth! I also spotted a taco bell across the road that was based in a KFC! Noted for night two! We got back to the hostel and had to get the bloke to fix the aircon, the room was like a native american sweat tent! He did sort it though and we both got a good nights sleep!
The next day we were up at the crack of dawn to meet Jojo our tour guide for Niagra. She pulled up in a huge stretch people carrier thing. I have to say she was great and i recommend her tours! She is really friendly and tells you all you need to know, but also knows when to give you space to just chill and do your own thing! After about 2 hours we got to Niagra. I dont really care if its
EXTREMELY TOURISTY and all that shite that some travellers harp on about. Niagra is breathtaking and has tacky town, a north american blackpool, a 10 minute walk from the falls! We got out and just looked at the falls, you cant believe the sheer amount of water that goes over those falls; or how the lunatics in barrels survived going over them either! Anyway we videoed it so you can see it on the blog. We then went for a walk in the tunnels behind the falls, they were feautured in the film The Fugitvie! It was loud and wet and awe inspiring when you stopped to think about it. We also beat the que so all was good! We then took a boat ride on the maid of the mist up to the falls themselves! I cant adequately describe what its like, our chris will know what i mean though! Its amazing and to know what its like youll just have to do it yourselves!
After this we walked upto Tacky Town and had a look around. We were with a Kiwi girl who was on the tour with us, she was a good laugh. We also
went to a haunted house that is rated the scariest, its called Nightmares. To date over 80,000 people have been to scared to finish the house and have had to get out! We all finished but i had bleeding ears from the girls screams and me shoulders were killing me as Claire was hanging off them! We got a good photo, which we sent back to Megan. Its taken in the dark when we cant see anything. It shows Claire nearly breaking me shoulders and looking terrified, dead funny! After all that excitement Claire and I went to the Casino, hoping to play a little three card polka . The tables were closed though, so after a look around we shot off!
On the way back to Toronto we stopped at Niagra on the lake. This is a small village right on lake Ontario, which was once ,for a short time the capital. It was a nice little place and the lake is beautiful, and looks more like a sea.
Ontario is the smallest of the 5 great lakes in canada. There are over two million lakes in Canada, covering about 7.6 percent of the Canadian landmass. The main
TD pose
I pose with a Kielbasa sausage. Fans of Tenacious D will get it, for the rest of you, dont worry. Next pic, Next pic.... lakes, in order of the surface area located in Canada (many large lakes share the Canada-U.S. border), are Huron, Great Bear, Superior, Great Slave, Winnipeg, Erie and Ontario.
The largest lake situated entirely in Canada is Great Bear Lake (31 328 km2) in the Northwest Territories. The deepest lake is Great Slave Lake, N.W.T., 615 metres. See below for additional information on these 2 lakes
The Great Lakes - Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario - are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world. They have a total surface area of 245,000 square kilometres, of which about one third is in Canada; only Lake Michigan is entirely within the USA.
Apparently you could put switzerland into lake superior at least 5 times! Anyway we drove on stopping at a wine makers on route. Everyone was allowed to sample wine for free including Canadian Ice wine which is a very sweet desert wine. All except me, as im a heathen lager lout and cant stand vinegar, i mean wine! Anyway we got back to toronto and headed up the taco bell. What a shite idea that was! It was the worst food i have ever eaten, but we are
Niagra Falls
A view from the maid of the mist boat - We got very wet! on a tight budget so we forced half of it down and binned the rest. Toronto tower is also cool.
The next day we left for Calgary! Calgary is cool but you cant see the rockies from the city unless you go up in the tower in town! It is a city of tall oil based office blocks, malls, and bars. It also has absolutely loads of mad and homeless people, and crack heads! Our hostel Auberge chez nous, was not really a hostel, the people in there were semi-long term residents. It was quiet, with your own beds, not bunks, and just what we needed. One thing we couldnt get used to was the fact it was daylight, and i mean bright daylight till about 1045pm. We were chuffed the hostel had thick curtains. It was also really hot, not as hot as Toronto, but not far off! We also found out it was Stampede,the biggest outdoor event in the world, a huge rodeo that dates back to 1886, the day after we left, how bad is that?
In July of 1889, 94 acres of the landPark, was purchased from the Dominion Government which is now the
A bear bin
used to keep all rubbish so bears cant smell it and come to human places! The rockies - Canada grounds for the stampede. In 1912, Guy Weadick, a trick roper who had played more than his fair share of Wild West Shows, vaudeville and travelling rodeos, arrived in Calgary. Weadick was to take centre stage, and he saw Calgary as the crossroads of the Canadian west. He envisioned it as the birthplace of the biggest "frontier days show the world has ever seen...hundreds of cowboys and cowgirls, thousands of natives. We'll have Mexican ropers and riders...we'll make Buffalo Bill's Wild West Extravaganza look like a side show..."
In 1923 the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede became one and the same, making a winning combination of great rodeo excitement, proud agricultural exhibits of southern Alberta and the first chuckwagon races conducted under competitive rules. The Calgary Exhibition and Stampede expanded from its traditional six days to nine days in 1967 and since 1968, Stampede guests have had 10 full days to let their hair down and enjoy the flavour of the old west. In October 2005, the Stampede announced there would be changes to the rodeo format and an increase in prize money for the rodeo. The world's top ranked competitors will compete over 10 days for prizes totaling $1.6
million that includes the $1 million Final Showdown Sunday.
Basically people in Calgary go all cowboy, hats and all and then get on the lash for ten days straight, whilst watching parades and rodeos. Also seriously this is the most tattoed country i have ever been to! They made me look mildly tattoed, it was mad. Anyway we missed Stampede but are defo going back for it one day! We walked everywhere and got to know 17th Avenue quite well boozin in the Ship and Anchor! We also met some cool people, who were really friendly and helped us out, Nick and John you know who you are! There was also a really nice Curry house next to the hostel but it was expensive! The owner was a die hard Liverpool fan though so i recommend it its on 5th Ave S.E. if your interested!
After a couple of days we left on a tour of Banff and Jasper, The Rockies; with True North tours. They were really good, and relatively cheap so i recommend these guys as well. They are a small family run operation, so no corporate bull! The strangest thing though was the Kiwi girl
Horse riding
Me and Claire go riding around Lake Louise! from Niagra recommended a hostel to us. She couldnt remember the name of it but it was on a beautiful pink beach in the north of New Zealand! The completely cray thing was our driver, Kathleen, the owner of True North tours, was also the owner of the hostel on the pink beach! Mad eh!
Anyway we saw Lake Louise, Banff, Jasper, Glaciers, Mountains, snow and endless forests. It was really beautiful, and whats good for us Brits is its all crown land, the queens! The Town of Banff has an elevation of 4,537 feet (1,383 metres) making it the highest town in Canada .Banff was established in 1885 as Canada's first National Park (third in the world) and was the birth of Canada's vast national parks system. Banff National Park covers 6,641 square kilometres (2,564 miles), has in excess of 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) of hiking trails,Castleguard caves in the Northwest corner of Banff are Canada's longest cave system and it is home to Alberta's southernmost herd of the endangered woodland caribou.
Banff National Park is open all year round and has in excess of 2,468 campsites and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a United nations designation
which helps protect over 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 square miles) of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The name "Banff" is derived from Banffshire, Scotland, the birthplace of two of the original directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Banff National Park is home to the following seven National historic sites: Skoki Lodge, Abbot Pass Hut, Howse Pass, Cave and Basin, Banff Park Museum, Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, and the Cosmic Ray Station on Sanson Peak. The highest mountain in Banff National Park is Mt. Forbes which stands at 11,850 feet (3,612 metres) Mountains in Banff National Park are 45 to 120 million years old and it boasts in excess of 1,000 glaciers
More than 4,000,000 visitors travel to Banff National Park every year since 1996. Seriously it is beautiful and the canadians obviously are proud of it, and so they should be. We also saw mountain goats with babies, mountain sheep, elk and a black bear! No it wasnt the zoo! They are all wild and thriving as a protected species. One girl who got up early in jasper even saw a wolf run off into the woods! Anyway all to soon we were back in Calgary, doing our blog
and downing beers in the ship and anchor pub! We then left for Vancouver!
History & Heritage
Just over a century ago, Vancouver was a two-block collection of buildings called Granville (now known as Gastown).
By 1887, a year after the City of Vancouver was incorporated, the first passenger train arrived at the foot of Howe Street, and future growth was assured. By 1912, a core office and shopping area was well developed, flanked by comfortable residential neighbourhoods. The period after World War I saw another economic leap forward and more Downtown development. The 1929 stock market crash halted it all, and began a thirty five year period of very little change in the area.
The late 1960s and 70s saw rapid growth in the Downtown and adjacent areas such as the West End. Vancouver solidified its position as an international financial and business centre and white collar jobs in the city core multiplied. Pacific Centre Mall was developed and Granville Street was transformed into a transit mail. In the late 1980s, the Downtown was clearly in transition from a precinct dedicated mostly to commerce, to a cluster of neighbourhoods ringing a thriving office and shopping
district.
All in all Vancouver is cool! You can stand downtown in between to massive skyscrapers and look up and see snow capped mountains. It has beaches including wreck beach a nudist beach. It has great nightlife and easily defined neighbourhoods. We stayed on Granville in the centre of town and it was cool. I recommend same sun backpackers, although its all dorms! Vancouver also has a New Amsterdam Cafe where you are allowed to smoke hash after 5pm! Mad! To be honest we chilled out and didnt do much! We did do a hostel organised pub crawl that was a good laugh. I got stinking drunk and cant remember getting home, needless to say the flight to japan the next day wasnt fun! Anyway the weather was hot, sunny and not humid, the beer was cold and the people were very friendly. We both loved Vancouver and will defo go back. We seem to be saying this a lot i know!!!! Anyway the next day it was onto a plane for the 19 odd hour flight to Tokyo via Hong Kong!!!! Abit of a culture shock due i think, but thats another story!!! Oh and Claire got
A famous lake
Sorry i can't remember the name but some say this resembles a bear, some say a wolf, what do you think? her Tragus which is the middle part of the ear pierced and i got the lower right side of my lip pierced for a laugh!!! The laugh is on me though cos i cant eat properly for 2 weeks, what a bastard eh! Claires looks well cool though! *Mum dont have a heart attack its not that bad* See you in the next installment!!!
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elvis
non-member comment
wooohoo!
As usual you look like you're having the time of your lives. If I were you I'd only ever drink that icy H2O from now on ya pair of old farts, lol!! Take it easy and I hope that you're loving Asia x x x x