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Published: September 4th 2006
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Toronto from the Tower
One of the many views from the CN Tower in Toronto Well, I know it has been a long time between drinks but there is no computer where I am staying at my Uncle's so he, very kindly, brought me over to Fernande's son's house so I can use their computer.
I am in Laval, Montreal, Quebec. It is beautiful but a little intimidating as I most of the people speak french & all the signs are in French (guess that will be good practise for when I am in Europe & cannot read anything for 21 days....lol)
The last time I left you I had just arrived in Toronto. WOW!! That city is so nice. It has lots of parks to walk through & it is very easy to find your way around. I woke early on Tuesday morning & was greeted by the melodic ringing of the St James church bells, which was directly across the street from the hostel. Mind you, they were not so melodic at 3am, 4am, 5am or even 6am.
I walked around downtown looking at things & deciding what to do. I went to the CN Tower, the mall, the beautiful gardens and the port. By 4 oclock I was knackered so
The Fall
Horseshoe Fall's. The Canadian side. It was magical. I decided to give myself a break from walking & I went to the cinema to see Pirates of the Carribean - Dead mans Chest. It was good, but what was nicer was getting to sit for 2 hours. After that I found a little bistro for dinner, had a quick bite & then headed back to the hostel for a fairly early night (10pm).
Next day, Wednesday, booked myself on the Niagra Fall's tour. It left at 11am so I took my time getting ready, went out for breakfast and sent a few emails. When I got on the bus the girl from the bed above me at the hostel was sitting there. I asked if I could join her, of course. Her name is Barbara and she is from Germany. We chatted the whole was there & got to know each other. She was brilliant.
We stopped at Niagra-on-the-Lake, the little town near Niagra Fall's, it was pretty but we were both anxious to get to the falls. Then we stopped at Inniskillin winery. Pretty much skulled the 2 tiny amounts of wine they gave us, so we could hurry to the falls. Then we got
Me & Barbara at the Fall
She was ace, I could have spent more time with her. there........OH MY LORD!!!!!!!!!! It was so magical!!! They are not as big as I thought they would be, but just as mesmerising. We just stood & stared for what seemed like an eternity. Then we realised....hang on....we have cameras. So then it began. I think I have about 47 photo's of the falls from all different angles.
We raced down the sidewalk to the ticket booth for the Maid in the Mist boat rides into the falls. Our tour guide had said meet me there in 20 minutes. I think every single one of us on the bus had to run as we had spent so much time behind the camera. We met the guide & headed for the boat.
We all adorned these charming blues raincoats that were more like Homer's moo moo. I was pleased cause it looked as hideous on everyone else as it did on me but nobody cared. The boat moved slowly passed the American Fall's, which are nowhere near as impressive as the Horseshoe Falls on the Candian side. A fine mist got us a little wet on the face, we were still able to take photo's. Then we moved into the
Old Montreal
Many streets are like this one in Old Montreal. Horseshoe Fall's.............put it this way, I put my camera under my raincoat.
It was almost like rain, it was the most wonderful thing I have ever seen. The boat is slowly making it's way into the falls & we are all craning our necks to see the top of the falls. Then the water came, not just a fine mist or spray but it was like a terrencial rain. We could no longer look up as the water was pounding down on top of us. It was cool, clean and so so powerful. All I could do was just close my eyes, lift my head to the sky, spread my arms and soak it all in. I never wanted the moment to end, and for a long time it didn't. The boat seemed to stay there for ages.
We were wet through, we headed back shouting to the oncoming boats, screaming & waving our arms, calling out, "YOU WILL LOVE IT".
Almost as soon as we got back I said to Barbara, I could do that all over again. We looked at the 2000 deep queue & decided to get a beer instead.
While I was on the boat I could hear my phone ringing, it was mum I later found out. I called her back & said, you will never guess where I was when you called!!
We were there til 9pm, then we headed back to Toronto. No-one was looking forward to the 1 1/2 hour bus ride, it was a little quiet on the bus, I think we all felt a little sad for leaving. Another girl from our dorm room was on the tour & the other girl in there had done the morning tour so we all sat up til midnight talking about it.
Thurday morning I got up & headed from Union Station to got to Montreal & see my Uncle & Aunt Peter & Fernande. The train trip was great, I got to see lots of the country side. It took 5 hours so i had a little snooze when I got sick of watching trees wizzing by. The landscape is so very different from the West Coast. Where B.C is mountains everywhere, between Toronto & Montreal was as flat as a sqashed cane toad.
Peter met me at the Station, we went for lunch at a groovy little restaurant in Rue de St-Catherines, then we went & picked Fernande up from work. All here collegues wanted to meet an Ausie so I went in & talked for them....lol
We had a quiet evening. Friday I just slept, did some washing & picked up some grog & we had a quiet night at home.
Saturday there was a family party so I got to meet all of Fernande's kids & grandkids. They were lovely. We had a really good night.
Sunday we went for a drive in the country, had brunch at La Crepier, then went to Mont Tremblant......it was magnificent, I liked it more than Whistler.
Today (Monday) is a public holiday so Fernande took me into Old Montreal. We walked around for hours & I took heap of photo's. We had lunch, saw a street performer then headed home. When we got back Peter said, do you want to go to Michael's & use his computer......YES PLEASE!!!!
So now you are up to date. I will try & get some photo's on here now. I will write more on Friday when I am back at the hostel. Then Saturday it's off to the UK.
Miss you all
Ciao for now
Love Kel
xxxx
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John
non-member comment
Yeah hi. wow wee. sounds like sooo much fun at the "falls" ps. I loved the homer refrence. Good to hear u are chatting to people over there. keep-a-smiling and keep it real??? sorry went all old skool on ya then. oh mi god. do u have the news in canadia? Have u heard about Steve Irwin, poor thing. well if u ahvent heard, i will tell u now. he is dead, he was stabbed by a stingray in the heart. poor thing. sorry to have ended the message on this. mmm let me think of something to put a smile on ur face. um....ur a gaybo. McKisses Misses.