North to Toronto
Trip Start
Feb 11, 2008
1
6
11
Trip End
Mar 24, 2008
Where I stayed
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada
Monday, February 25, 2008
On Sunday morning we ventured downtown by taxi (another $50) and were awe inspired by the world's tallest freestanding tower (553.33m) - the CN Tower. With a fast ride in a glass elevator (scary) up to the 114th floor (346m) we arrived in the observation deck. This had a restaurant and viewing right around the city and across Lake Ontario. Down 1 flight of stairs to the lower deck which featured a glass floor on which one was supposed to lay down on and look through the glass to the ground. Too scary for me & even TC couldn't walk on it - he crawled (like that would save you!!). It was a bizarre experience and the interesting fact is the glass floor is strong enough to hold the weight of 14 hippos. Didn't make many tourists feel better about walking on it! We then got back in the elevator to go up another 33 floors to the pod viewing level (447m). Much smaller and scarier but we all had a look around the 360∙ glass viewing platform before retreating back to the restaurant floor. Decided we would venture back to terra firma for lunch and of course had to file out through the mandatory souvenir shop on the way out.
It was a pleasant -2 C with the sun shining so we walked to the Mountain Equipment Co to purchase a few necessities for our trip north. Then we taxied to the Eaton (shopping) Centre - a huge (mainly underground) shopping mall.
First real snow
We found a few more basic things like tea & clothes for KC, games for the kids and food for all of us.It was getting quite dark when we decided to head back to the hotel - and the freeways were all busy despite the fact it was Sunday evening. Nothing ever seems to slow down here!
We enjoyed probably the best meal since we left home at a little bar and grill called Kelsey's. Food was fantastic and service to match.
Monday morning we were picked up by our "limo" which was really just a nice big Ford Lincoln car (not a stretch) to be driven to Niagara Falls. While the driver was an excellent driver - he couldn't (or wouldn't) converse and spoke 4 words on the 1 hr trip down. This made for a bit of a boring trip as we would have liked to know what landmarks we passed etc but just had to figure it out for ourselves. I guess he was not a native Canadian and didn't have English skills as well as being a lot shy.
He dropped us off in Niagara and we found our way down to the falls. Our initial reaction was summed up by JJ with the question (3 times) what did we come here for? That was because it was quite misty and dull, the entire area of water we could see was completely frozen and the falls looked quite small. We discovered that we were looking at the USA side of the falls and luckily continued walking to the Canadian side which are the much more spectacular falls. Although things like Maid of the Mist weren't running and all the little tourist booths were closed at the first stop we made, we found more tourists and activity at the other end.
Seat in the snow
We were able to go down behind the falls to the first level (the lower level is closed during winter due to ice) and see them a little closer. Fantastic sight with all the snow & ice around and not many people to negotiate makes interesting compared to summer time which is peak season and wall to wall people!On the walk down too was a park with snow and cute little squirrels running around. Kids had their first go at making snowballs and quite enjoyed this activity.
After a couple of hours we returned to our driver and had an equally quiet return trip to Toronto. We decided to skip the downtown tour as we felt our guide may not point out or tell us anything so returned to our hotel for a quiet afternoon packing. Ate in our room and retired relatively early as we had a 5.15am start the next morning.
Caught the airport shuttle and were at Toronto Pearson by 6.40am. It was snowing which was a worry as we didn't have any room for delays in our schedule that day. Then at the gate we were told that boarding was delayed as they couldn't get power to the plane - well that was also a worry, but we boarded the plane once that problem was solved. Then of course we had to join the queue to have the plane de-iced before we took off over 40mins late.
I was sure we wouldn't make our connecting flight in Halifax but with 10 passengers on our flight catching the same plane they waited for us. I was sure that our luggage wouldn't have made it either but was pleased when we arrived in Goose Bay to find it had. Sid had sent down expedition coats for us to put on before we got on the little 19 seat Twin Otter to Nain. We all stood out a bit and got highly amazed reactions when TC told a fellow passenger we were visiting Nain for a holiday from Australia! There is no such thing as an air bridge here and we stepped out on the tarmac in our normal gear at -17 C. Lucky only a short run to the building.
Then our long awaited adventure began for real ..... To be continued.
