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Maple Leafs, Niagra Falls, beavers, moose and snowboarding. This is Canada!
Flying north of New York we noticed a significant increase in the amount of white on the ground. Its regularly cold in Canada and temperatures can drop to the negative 50s if the conditions are right; we were a little nervous! It was definitely colder than New York when we landed, but luckily for us the colder weather was mostly in the west of the country.
We were fortunate to be staying with Craig and Amy, good friends of my brother Ads, and my sister-in-law, Anna. Amy picked us up from the airport and whisked us back to the beaches on the lake shore. After meeting the millionaire cat Soxy, we settled down for a nice family meal and an early night after the craziness of New York.
First stop on the Toronto tour was CN Tower. It's the worlds tallest free standing structure at 553m. The tower beams radio and TV communications across Canada. It also has several observation decks and a revolving restaurant. We opted for the full package; the main deck, sky pod and glass floor. The views of Toronto were spectacular. The sun was out and it was a cool clear day. We could see for miles; so much so that we thought we could spy the US city of Rochester on the other side of the lake and the spray from Niagra Falls. But I'm not convinced!
The tower was built in the 1970s and is quite an achievement. As I mentioned earlier, the Canadian winters can be brutally cold and the construction crew worked through two of them to get the tower finished. Not to mention the height! Unfortunately for the Canadians the prize for tallest structure has been lost to Dubai. From memory, the building in Dubai is somewhere near the 800m mark; an extra 300m above CN Tower.
Our second day was spent driving to Niagra Falls, with Amy, for a day out in the icy Canadian winter. Niagra can get very busy during the summer, but it was rather quiet on a cold December day. We found ourselves walking into an icy winter wonderland; the spray from the falls coating anything in its path and then freezing in the cold weather. The trees, grass and hand railings were covered in a thick shiny white gloss. If we'd parked the car anywhere near the spray we might've had some trouble later trying to open the doors!
The three of us had a great time running amok at the falls, snapping off the icicles from the hand railing, tossing them into the water and then racing each other to the drop. The falls were quite impressive, though the winter weather prevented us from getting up close and personal as we did at Iguazu. Unfortunately, unlike Iguazu, tacky development has been around for a very long time at Niagra and has been allowed to stay. We drove through it after the falls and I couldn't help but snap some of the tack from the car. I didn't believe how bad it was till I saw it first hand.
From the falls we drove to the pretty little town of Niagra on the Lake. It's a great place to stop for a country lunch, the sort of place where you'd expect to find high tea. We didn't do much here, but I mention it because its where we bought our glorious moose and roo hats. We spent ages in the shop trying on all the different animal hats, which may or may not have been accompanied by noises and actions! Craig was a little concerned when we picked him up from work later, with a beaver, moose and roo in tow!
Amy and Craig kindly treated us to all things Canadian whilst we stayed with them. This included a trip to the Air Canada centre to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Buffalo Sabres. It was a great match; goals on both sides. Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs the Sabres took it with a goal in extra time.
We also headed to 'the cottage' with Craig and Amy over the weekend to learn to snowboard. Craig was pulling out all of Ad's teaching terms like 'get stinky'. It was lots of fun, but I'll be glad to get back on skis again. I'd forgotten how frightening chairlifts can be when you're learning. I managed to take Amy out on one occasion and also nearly stacked it a couple of times on the magic carpet. Heaven forbid! The lift crew at Blue Mountain were rather appreciative of our hats though. Best hats in Canada!
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