Went up to Niagara Falls and Toronto for a long weekend last week. It was Lena's first trip to Canada, and I hadn't been to this side in probably close to 20 years. We flew into Buffalo and then drove a rental car to Niagara. Stayed at the Trillium Bed & Breakfast in Niagara on the Canadian side and the Mulberry in Toronto.
The Trillium was pretty basic - just a mid-70s house that had been turned into accomodation, but the owner was nice and the location - a 5-minute drive up from the falls - convenient.
The Mulberry is in an old house in downtown Toronto, with a lot of character and full of knicknacks and photos from the owners' trips around the world - Persian carpets, Peruvian decorations and the like. Of the two, the Mulberry had the better breakfast, though neither was stellar.
Niagara
Here's the Falls from above, and the Maid of the Mist on its way. Lena and I got on the boat, which was a lot of fun. Unsurprisingly, the falls are far more magnificent from up close.
The Falls were packed with tourists, and after riding on the Maid of the Mist, there's not a hell of a lot to do in Niagara if you don't want to gamble or visit cheesy attractions like the Ripley's museum.
So, we headed up to the quiet old towne of Niagara-on-the-Lake, a pleasant drive north on the Niagara parkway, stopping along the way to buy fresh fruit, maple syrup and wine from the many farms and fruitstands.
Some scenes from Niagara-on-the-Lake. It's a town full of flowers.
Toronto
Toronto's not a beautiful city, but full of interesting things to do, and our 2 1/2 days there were packed.
First stop was the CN Tower. I've always thought this was one of the world's most stunning buildings. It, of course, defines the Toronto skyline and city views from most places within the city. But there's something powerful about this tv tower that you don't get from others, like the Ostankino in Moscow, or "Tashkent Tower" in, well, Tashkent. Its design seems both timeless and signature 1970s at the same time.
If you don't look too closely, this vertical panoramic picture came out ok. Was cloudy most of the time time in the city, however.
A few years ago, a glass floor was installed on the bottom of the CN Tower's viewing level. Standing on it is one of the city's more remarkable experiences. You know it's solid - they make the point that it could hold the weight of 14 adult hippos - but your brain does not click with the fact that you're standing over 1200 feet of air, looking down to the ground. The floor is only visible in several small sections, around which crowds of people stand and gingerly step onto - while holding onto loved ones.
Apparently, the floor was installed on the entire level, but people had difficulty walking on it - seriously, you get vertigo - so they covered most of it. It's difficult to get pictures downward because of the contrast between the bright outside and dark inside.
Lena and I worked out an exchange. We would spend our half-day on Monday at the Hockey Hall of Fame, if we could go to the Bata Shoe Museum on Saturday, which we did. My expectations for this museum were far exceeded. It was actual a very interesting museum, that put shoes into different well-explained cultural and historical contexts, all very attractively laid-out.
Our first evening in Toronto, we saw the musical Lord of the Rings. First clue about its quality was that they are practically giving away tickets. We got orchestra seats for $35, as opposed to the $120 if you buy off the website. After opening in May, its run is ending quite a bit earlier than originally expected. It was engrossing to watch - simply because it's clearly a million-dollar production with all kinds of moving stage parts and special effects. But trying to fit a 1000-page book into a 3-hour musical (where you have to add the songs) just doesn't work. It needed 9 hours of movie! There's no way you could understand the story if you hadn't read the book or seen the movie (not that that really applies to anyone), as they have to breeze through all the explanations. Also, much of LOTR is battle scenes, in both the book and movie. It's not easy to do massive, 100,000-strong-army battle scenes on a stage, and they didn't have much success, reducing them to sort of interpretive-dances. But those get old after the first couple times. Anyway, not a waste, as it was worth the price of the tickets (in Canadian dollars), though I would have felt cheated if I'd paid $120.
On Sunday, we met grad school friend and Toronto native Lorra, who took us to a fabulous dim sum in Chinatown, at a place hidden away on the third floor of some a building without any English signs.
During the meal, I got a phone call from Seattle that my new nephew, Jacob Simon Spinak, had been born! Afterward, we trawled the neighborhood's fruit markets and found cheap delicious cherries, and longans - a southeast Asian delight we hadn't been able to find since returning from that part of the world.
In the afternoon, we took a tour of the city with Tap into TO - a free "Toronto Ambassadors" program that hooks you up with native Torontoans who show you their city. Our guide was Amber, who was actually from Edmonton, but had lived in Toronto for 14 years. She's an Oilers fan, and while waiting for 40 minutes for a bus that never came, we talked about their playoff run and what it's like to be an Oilers fan in Maple-Leaf country. She showed us the historical part of Toronto, which is very scant, considering most of the city burned down in the early 1900s.
The tour included Toronto's old city hall - now a court, and going past the Hudson Bay Company, Canada's proud department store. It's interesting how proud Canadians are of their chain stores - several people, Amber included, repeatedly encouraged us to go to Tim Horton's, a ubiquitous donut chain, in order to complete our Canada experience. Lena and I couldn't imagine Americans imploring visitors "you have to go to McDonald's! you can't leave the US without trying Burger King!". I'd imagine its because so much of their culture is imported from the US that they feel attached to those few things that are native Canadian - even if they are just mediocre vestiges of consumerism.
The Canadians do love to mock George Bush.
On Sunday evening, we dined at Wayne Gretzky's Restaurant - basically an overpriced version of Friday's with some hockey memorabilia and pictures of the Great One, but the food was actually rather good, especially the cinammon apple tortilla we had for dessert.
Then we went to Second City for their evening show, which was stroke-inducing hilarious. Much more mocking of Bush, and also of conservative Canadian premier Stephen Harper - who's seen, apparently, as a Bush stooge, and destroyer of Canada's precious social welfare system. Second City is, of course, where many famous Canadian comics got started, including Mike Myers, Dan Akroyd, John Candy. I'm sure we'll see some of those who we saw on Sunday on Saturday Night Live in a couple years.
On Monday, we finally made it to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I had been there once before as a kid, but it's completely changed since then.
Lena and I both got to try out our hockey skills in the interactive section.
We both failed miserably. I think I stopped one shot, and Lena scored one goal.
Felt the glory of 24 Stanley Cups in the replica Montreal Canadiens dressing room.
The quirky World Hockey Association display case.
Lena was exceedingly pleased when she beat me in overtime, 2-1, in table hockey.
In the international exhibit, the jerseys of hockey powerhouses Israel and Turkey.
Lena gives the Pioneer salute in honor of Vladislav Tretiak, and then examines the Calder Trophy for best rookie, awarded this year to our own Alexander Ovechkin.
And...after many long years, I finally get to kiss the Cup.
