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Toronto
It took approximately 2 minutes for us to go from American soil to Canadian as we drove through a tunnel under the Detroit River from, you guessed it, Detroit. The very first thing we saw after emerging was a big sign with the Canadian flag and 'Welcome to Windsor' written on it! Yes the very first place we stepped foot in Canada was Windsor, Ontario. It also felt strange because Windsor is the hometown of Dave who we travelled the Great Ocean Road with in Australia, so we had made it to his town before he had!
While in Toronto we didn't actually 'do' very much aside from explore the city on foot over a couple of days to see some different sights, and we also saw an exhibition at a gallery. Some of the things we saw included the downtown area and its many buildings and shops, the Chinatown area, the 'entertainment district' and it's many smaller shops and restaurants (there were a lot of veggie ones), we walked past the CN Tower which gives Toronto its distinctive skyline and had a wander inside the large, and very old Union Station. We also popped into many a Tim Hortons, Canada's much cheaper and less complicated version of Starbucks, somewhat of an institution here (all our Canadian friends mentioned it), where we sampled their French Vanilla coffee, the mocha, their hot chocolate and their iced coffee (in our opinion FAR better than Starbucks' version & less than half the price!) and Andy made sure to have a couple of their donuts - maple glazed of course!
The exhibition we went to was the Tim Burton exhibition showcasing hundreds of his drawings as well as various models and props from the films he has made such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands and recently, the newer versions of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland. By chance we walked past the gallery and spotted it causing Nikki to get very excited! Previously it had only been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and strangely, Andy had got to see it when he was in New York in '09, so this meant after Andy trying to describe everything he'd seen (no photos allowed you see) Nikki would get a chance to see it all for herself. We think Andy must be one of very few people who has seen it in New York and now in Toronto.
The morning that we woke up to leave Toronto we walked outside to a thin layer of snow on the ground with more falling from the sky. It was a nice way to leave Toronto but was just a small taste of what was to come...
Niagara Falls
We arrived in Niagara Falls (the Canadian side) to a couple of inches of snow on the ground and an absolute flurry of it falling from the sky. Now we really felt like we were in Canada whilst trudging through the snow to our (thankfully warm) hostel with a blizzard trying to hold us back! We thought this was cold but again, compared to the snow storm later that afternoon and the 1 foot of snow we experienced the next day it was nothing! After checking in we put on our hats and gloves and headed for the downtown area to Niagara where there are shops and restaurants. We were told it would take 20-30mins, needless to say that was a wild underestimate, the walk would have taken longer than that on a clear day let alone whilst stamping our way through snow! When we finally approached the town we walked underneath the bridge that crosses the river into America and we then had the American Niagara Falls (slightly smaller and not in a horseshoe shape, it's a wall of water much like usual waterfalls) on our left. Off in front of us around another 15 minute walk we could see one side of Niagara Falls itself, but we wouldn't be visiting until the following day.
One of the first things we saw in the town almost caused Andy to have a heart attack, as we saw a gigantic WWE wrestling belt above a big shop, the only WWE store in the world and Andy had no idea it existed! Unfortunately the store was only a week away from closing down for good so most of the stock was gone, but we went in anyhow and had a nice chat with the staff who gave us a couple of freebies to go along with the very heavily discounted things we bought. They had a replica of one of the older belts that the wrestlers Andy grew up watching used to have and upon hearing we were heading to Wrestlemania in a couple of weeks time they realised we were true fans (admit it Nikki, you are!) and so they let Andy hold the belt and have a photo with it before we left. Outside they had handprints of various wrestlers much like in Hollywood which was quite funny. It was sad to see it closing and unfortunate (actually, probably fortunate for Andy's bank balance) that they weren't fully stocked but it's great that we at least got to see it and go in. After that excitement we sat down for lunch and in the process of eating, watched the world outside get whiter by the minute as a full on blizzard rolled in. We tried to wait it out but the conditions weren't getting any better so like true brave explorers we ventured back outside and forced our way through the almost horizontally blowing snow and wind and felt hands down the coldest we've ever been, not surprising as the temperature thanks to said wind was between -12 and -15! Our black hoodies were covered in a layer of snow no matter how often we stopped to try and brush ourselves off! It wasn't exactly 'fun' but it was an experience nonetheless and we walked back through the doors of our hostel almost an hour later with wet clothes, bright red faces, hands we couldn't feel anymore, and smiles on our faces.
The next day as we enjoy walking so much (I wish there was a way to convey sarcasm) we set out again on our walk along the river toward the falls. It wasn't snowing today, in fact it was nice and sunny but the previous day's weather meant there was a fair bit of snow to walk through. In fact, there was a LOT of snow to walk through, up to a foot in places! The walk was actually quite nice as the river below us had large bits of ice floating along it and with America on the other side and snow covering everything it was very picturesque. There was also some kind of hawk that we watched swooping around above and to the side of us. We walked back under the bridge to America, past the American Niagara Falls and onward to the main attraction. And wow, what an attraction it is. We've all seen Niagara Falls on TV but the view that greeted us as we approached them was stunning and unparalleled. When walking towards them you can clearly see where the Horseshoe Falls are from quite a way away as at this time of year there is a constant cloud from the spray the falls create. This isn't just a cloud of spray, it's an actual cloud due to the air temperature combining with the tiny drops of water as they are thrown up into the air. It's quite something to see but means you can never see the complete semi circle of the falls as this cloud is always in the way. Still, even with the cloud the sight is just as spectacular as you would imagine. It's difficult to understand just how wide the falls are because of the shape they are in; the other side of the river is far enough away though that even if they were in a straight line they would still be considered very wide. By walking around to the side of the falls we watched as large pieces of ice disappeared over the edge, but when looking straight on you could never make them out to watch them fall due to the sheer volume of water that flows over each second. The power of the water is just amazing and can only be appreciated when looking toward the bottom of the falls and seeing the spray that is produced and the speed at which it hits some of the rocks in the river. Whoever has attempted going over them in a barrel surely must be a little wrong in the head!
With the constant mist that is thrown up and the below zero temperatures, everything surrounding the area from trees and plants to metal railings had a permanent outer layer of ice an inch or two thick. This combined with the snow gave the area a winter wonderland kind of feel and when Nikki took a photo encapsulating everything around us, to top it off we saw we had a rainbow in the photo too. We were seeing something very special, thankfully we were aware of this and we tried to really take it all in and appreciate the beauty of what was around us. We really are very lucky.
"THIS is real Canada" we thought, and as brief as it was, our memories of our first trip here will not go away very quickly. That said, we will be back.
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