Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Toronto - 'Towers and 'misty' showers'
Bed count = 5
Ok so I'm writing this blog a little late in the evening with a bout of the man flu, so I'm giving you some upfront notification that I may be liable to rant a little….you have been warned!
So the last time I wrote we were on our way to Toronto via the courtesy of the 'Megabus'.In fairness despite the clientele the journey was surprisingly good.The only negative comment I have was the lack of a stop off in a 5.5h journey.Well, I tell a lie we did stop off all of 5 minutes and an old washer woman wheeled a 'snack cart' to the bus door.As we were all prisoners on the bus and under no uncertain terms allowed to get off, the queue was quite long and much to the driver's disgust it took longer than 5 minutes.Melissa decided that she was definitely not using the toilet on the bus (after a bad first experience earlier on the journey) and made a jail break out of the back door.Like a scene from Alcatraz she broke free and made a Linford Christie like sprint to the local café.Luckily she made it back in time and despite some hefty integration, was allowed back to her seat!So onward to Toronto, where we actually made it on time…..next stop Cabbagetown!
That's right we were stopping in a little B&B in the heart of Cabbagetown.To explain briefly, this is a suburb of Toronto that used to be a notoriously working class area.Apparently the inhabitants were having a hard time making ends meet and survived predominantly on vegetables, most notably cabbages!I won't go into details, but I should imagine the smell was pretty horrific and they must have had iron guts!Anyhow moving on, this is a distant picture to what the area is today.It is a beautiful and quaint area of renovated Victorian houses and we were stopping in such a place.When booking places on the fly, you win some and you lose some but this was definitely a winner.A big double room, lovely linen, shabby chic French furniture and a lounge area with coffee + Wifi, all at a fair cost.We went out for a meal to celebrate in the evening and decided to try a local haunt called the Pear Tree…..nice food, but we were only ones in the entire restaurant.The waitress service was pretty attentive, but it lacked a little atmosphere!
The next morning was rock and roll as we challenged ourselves to use the local laundrette! I went out on a reconnaissance mission with the first load, leaving Melissa in the safety of the B&B.Using a make shift bin bag, my first challenge was to pick my pants off the public high street as the bag broke on the busiest pavement of my journey!Pants in hand again, I made it to the destination to be greeted by the friendly locals battling for the machines.My prior experience of washing machines is of a pretty simple procedure, but this was going to be challenge.I studied the diagrams for 10 minutes and determined that it was probably another chapter of a Dan Brown novel; 'The Washing Machine Code - the secret to easily washing ones pants shall never be found!' After some minor frustration I plucked up the courage to ask one of the locals who seemed to be enjoying watching me struggle….it turns out he was the owner!!After some small talk I was in the good books and ready to wash!However, when we started the cycle he had forgot to tell me that I needed to purchase my own detergent!So it was my turn to sprint like Linford down to the local store a block away to purchase the smallest quantity they had on offer ~2 Litres…..should be enough for 100 washes!I had some good fortune on the exit though as I picked up a cardboard box to double up as a washing basket….some days I surprise myself with such ingenuity! I managed to get back in time for the 'wash cycle', but the owner took great pleasure in telling me that I had missed the 'pre-wash cycle', I guess I'll have to catch up with that one on the BBC repeats!So washing on, I leisurely strolled back to tell Melissa the good news…..we were in business!The rest is pretty uneventful, but we managed to wash and dry all our clothes without staining/colour running or shrinking!Melissa even found time to write a couple of postcards whilst I was hypnotised by the tumble dryer.Moving on, we found time to Skype Melissa's parents (Rob and Carole) after this and it was great to catch up :o)
The afternoon involved getting into and exploring Toronto.We pretty much walked the majority of the downtown area, but it was quite nice to explore it all.I should mention that it was actually the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) whilst we were staying there, so apparently there were loads of celebs around, including Madonna, Brad Pitt and George Clooney.As we were walking down one of the main streets (Bloor Street), we noticed a crowd of people waiting outside a hotel.We waited a while and a couple of blackened-glass limo's pulled up.People got in and out, but we didn't recognise who they were so they must have been C-list! The only one we knew was Adam Brody, who plays Seth Cohen in the OC…..I told you they were C-list!After this we made a long walk to the famous 'CN tower' and as the queues were small we decided to go up it.The glass lift hit 25mph and made light work of getting us up to some crazy height in less than 15 seconds.However the views were amazing and we headed over to one of the main features…..'the glass floor'.This is a reinforced glass floor that goes all the way down to the streets below..…which is a long way down I can tell you!Apparently the glass is reinforced to withstand the pressure of 44 hippo's (which seemed a strange weight determinant), but it was going to be put to the test with a coach load of American tourists that arrived at the same time as us!After this we went down to the picturesque harbour area and caught a ferry to a neighbouring Island.We timed it perfectly, as we had an amazing sunset over the city on the way out and the neon lights on the CN tower on our way back…. very memorable.However, not as memorable as our taxi ride home….
So we decided to grab a cab after walking all afternoon.As we got in the driver proposed an immediate challenge…..answer a simple geography question and get a free ride home!So the challenge was to name the capital of Gambia and it will come as no surprise that we paid the full fare home!However it didn't stop there as the rather jovial driver continued to challenge us in some kind of mastermind cab ride!Once we drew a few blanks, it was our turn to ask him some questions.After answering everyone correctly and in super quick time I could smell a rat..…this guy was too good!He then proceeded to tell us that he was in the Guinness Book of Records, by which I told him he was lying!Melissa informs me that this offended him and he produced certificates and newspaper articles to cement his claim.So it so turns out that we were in the cab with 'Mr Geography' or 'Mr Geo' to his close friends and he is indeed in the Guinness Book of Records.Apparently he is some local celeb in the city…..you just can't make this stuff up!!We ended the evening in a local pub called the Houses of Parliament or 'HOP' which our lovely host, Gailo had recommended. We had some great food, wine and beer and the only sour note was Melissa's miscalculation on the tip amount…..Canadians do not like missing their tips!!
The next day we had booked on a tour to Niagara Falls that we had researched online.As mentioned before, some you win and some you lose….this was a loss!Alarm bells were ringing as the old mini bus screeched up to collect us and the ride started a little bumpy to say the least!In fact I'm pretty sure that the whole suspension system was shot, as my teeth juddered over every bump in the road.This wouldn't have been so bad with the exception that we were on the damn thing for 2h!We did have a few stop offs along the way - the first was for some wine tasting, which is just what you crave at 9.30am in the morning!However it was free and the wine was ok, so I shouldn't complain!The next monumental stop, was at a large flower clock. This was basically a clock with a load of flowers round it……magical!The driver obviously liked it as he said ' you don't see that every day, those memories will stay with you forever'.No Mr Bus driver, I don't see a 20ft clock every day as it's just really impractical and just because you've dressed it up with a few flowers doesn't mean I will have everlasting memories!Ok that was my first rant, but I did warn you! So following the magical flower clock stop we were back on our way and stopped off in a lovely little place called Niagara on the Lake.As we were on a tight schedule we only stopped for 1h but I wish we could have had longer.It's just a really quaint village by the lake really, but loads of nice coffee shops and much to Melissa's delight, chocolate shops!Not just your run of the mill chocolate shops, but the actual 'Rocky Mountain Chocolate' shop!Let me rewind a bit, as the story goes Melissa had a toffee apple from this chain of shops the last time we were on an adventure trip.From memory she sampled the delights of the said toffee apple in Victoria (Vancouver Island) and hasn't stopped mentioning it ever since.She immediately clocked the shop as the bus drove in and went into a little song and dance with excitement……guess what our first stop was?!So after the toffee apple had been consumed we spotted a post box and swiftly posted the first batch of postcards to the lucky few in this first round!After this we had time to wander down to the beach, only to notice a man having his make-up done!Not what I expected, but we then worked out that we were on the set of a Bollywood movie…..not sure which one, but it looked pretty budget constrained!So as the bus driver was getting agitated by the fact that we were 30 seconds behind schedule we all jumped on for the final stretch to the crown jewel…..Niagara falls!
If you've never been to Niagara Falls, then it's definitely worth going and the falls are pretty awe-inspiring.However the actual area is pretty tacky and reminded me of a cheap Las Vegas.Some high rise buildings, a roller coaster and a miniature CN tower!However we didn't have time for all that, as the bus driver was herding us across the busiest road he could find, so we could get on the 'Maid of the Mist' boat tour.Tickets in hand, I asked the driver whether we could come back and do it later…..his advice 'just do it now and get it out of the way'…..ah service with a smile, that's what I like!!Anyhow we decided to take his slightly insulting advice and get in line with the one million or so Japanese tourists that had descended in a swarm.We were kitted up with our water proofs, which would be key to staying dry during the voyage we were told.However the wafer thin attempt at a rain coat was quite frankly an insult and pretty much gave up its fight against water within the first minute…..we were going to get wet!For those that don't know, the 'Maid of the Mist' is a boat that takes you under the falls and into the 'mist' that's produced.My image of 'mist' is low lying cloud or very fine rain that slowly soaks you over several hours…..this was not 'mist'!If you want the same experience as I had, just spend twenty minutes half naked in your local car wash with a bin bag to cover your modesty.Ok that was rant number two, but despite the elements, the falls were actually pretty amazing.The captain of the boat took delight in telling us that only two people had survived falling down the falls.The first was a woman in a wooden barrel…..clever women really…wood floats! The second was a small boy in only his swimwear who accidently fell down a couple of years back.I can only imagine that this small boy was actually Pinocchio and he told enough lies that his nose pushed him out of the mist!So the 'Maid of the Mist' tour complete, it was pretty much time to head back.The bus driver had been getting increasingly aggravated during the day, but assured us a smooth ride back.We had nothing of the sorts and I wish I had brought a cushion to protect my coccyx! I think he must have beeped and sworn at most of the Canadian public on the trip back, but the one who got the most abuse was a poor Canadian goose who decided to take a slow walk over the road!
Anyhow, we got back and we had our final night in the B&B but not before frantically booking some accommodation for our next leg!The next day we took a 4h flight from Toronto to Edmonton and then I drove for 5h to Jasper in the Rockies.I'll save you the delights of this for next time, but we are now in paradise and enjoying some of the best scenery to date.
Before I sign off I would like to complete this blog with a third and final rant.This is about a few observations I have made in Canada so far:
1.Taxes suck!Just tell me the price I need to pay and don't lure me into false sense of security by advertising it at another price.You name it 'food tax, clothes tax, tax about tax'…whatever next!
2.Stop making dogs wear cravats!I haven't seen any human being carry one of these off in some time…what chance does Mr Pooch have?Next thing we know dogs will be wearing bandanas and riding a chopper down the kennels!
3.Stop making tortilla's the size of a two pence piece and giving twice the amount of fajita mix.The ratios are just wrong, Melissa can't work it out and it's just getting messy now!
I will conclude by saying that those who know me, will be aware that random things just seem to happen to me, but I usually don't write them down.This blog is purely my observations of such events and does not represent the views of anyone but myself.
- comments