Blog

We finally got a chillout day! Monday we had an award-winning lie in followed by a day at the pool. At first, grabbing sunloungers and marking our territory with towels felt quite European…could quite easily be in Spain. Then when you chill out on said lounger, you’re towered over by skyscrapers & the sound of the biggest city in Canada battles to drown out the iPod. And its extremely relaxing! For people who are used to grabbing powernaps by next to revving VW engines & jet cars, this is bliss.

Then the big finale….Niagara….
We had such big plans for the day….out at the crack of dawn, then the last bus back at 22:30. Well, the first bus leaves at 09:30 and takes nearly 2 hours to get there, so lunchtime start anyone?! Then of course the rain gods found us after Banff. Result was a rather shorter & wetter visit than planned, but still spectacular.

The Niagara Fury attraction is a grin-inducing tour from the ice-age through to the creation of the falls… to avoid a You Tube bonanza cameras are banned but suffice to say that the free ponchos dished out are mandatory. Snow, icy blasts & the inevitable thawing out get you slightly less moist than the Maid of the Mist boat tour into the…well…mist

Mental & www note to self…stay two days in Niagara. We were whacked out & missed out on some of the attractions & bad weather stopped the helicopter flight that we’d promised ourselves…so it was an early bus back for us. It was interesting to see areas around the bus terminal which have clearly suffered as the commercialisation of the falls area has sucked the business from the out of town areas. The falls area meanwhile is booming with casinos & fairground rides enticing people who get easily bored of natural wonders to stay longer than they intended.

Quick bite to eat back at the hotel followed by the usual one-too-many beers to remind me why I don’t drink beer! One last look at that phenomenal skyline adds Toronto to the list of places we’re sad to leave.

(Vancouver & Toronto albums + this entry has been updated on an Airport Express coach…free WiFi makes us happy…expensive hotel wired internet makes us grumpy)