Just a fleeting visit to Canada on this occasion, essentially to visit Niagara Falls really.
Frank had visited Niagara Falls in 1944 and mentioned it was pretty good, so why not, it sounded like a good place to go.
First though, we went to Toronto and used this as a brief base for our bus trip to Niagara Falls.
Toronto itself is an ok place, very beige. The buildings all seem beige. Maybe it's the light, or the concrete, i'm not sure. Either way, it's a beige town.
There were some pretty cool shops in one area, sorta similar to Newtown or Fitzroy. Independent sorta stuff. We wandered round there for a while, but ultimately, as mentioned, we were mainly there to visit the falls.
We caught a Greyhound bus down to Niagara and walked from there. The bus station isn't exactly the best place to be in America but that said, we lived to tell the tale.
As we walked toward the falls, we could hear a definite rumbling noise and this got louder and louder until we could see the falls in the distance. It has to be said, the falls are pretty noisy and quite spectacular.
Niagara itself is a dump with loads of amusement parlours and cheap, tacky souvenir shops. Must admit, didn't quite expect that, but at least the buildings are set a fair way back from the falls, so it could have been worse.
The Maid of the Mist boat wasn't operating as it was out of season, so that would have been good, but it was still cool to see the falls.
The obligatory photos were taken and one of the best things was to see the ice buildup, so many layers were visible, and the amazing blue colour of the water after it hits the deck from a great height.
The water also rushes extremely quickly. I certainly wouldn't want to go over the edge, that's for sure, although people have survived the fall.
All in all, it was well worth the experience but we left wondering what you'd do there for more than a day to be perfectly honest.
