DAY 37 - 38 Toronto and the Niagara Falls

-
Wednesday morning it was reeeeealy early up and off to the airport via a shuttle with a very unfriendly driver. Well he did not get a tip!

At Calgary Airport

The flight was some 4 hours and Toronto is 2 hours ahead of Calgary so that it was 2pm by the time we landed. I took the UP Express into Toronto and then the Metro to within a few blocks of the HI Hostel. It was easy to navigate and find my way. BUT it was HOT and HUMID!!! And then there was a huge down-pour. I was so glad I made it before it started to rain. Did not rain very long and it cooled things down a bit. I found myself dinner and then I managed to get a booking for a tour to the Niagara Falls for the next morning.

The American Falls 

The Horseshoe Falls

The Niagara Falls are much nicer from the Canadian side. Americans cross the border to visit the Falls on the Canadian side!

Above the Horseshoe Falls



People lining up in their red ponchos to catch one of the boats that go right up to the falls.



You can zip-line towards the falls. Me.... not that good with heights, so no thank you.

Me taking a selfie "in front of the fals".... donno what happened to the falls? I swear they moved! :) 

So I asked someone else to take the picture!

We also visited a town called Niagara on the Lake, a quint old town with beautiful buildings and gardens and artsy sort of shops and old-fashioned eateries. And of course an ice cream shop!






One scoop of Green Tea ice cream and one scoop of Walnut and Maple ice cream.

Lake Ontario, one of the 5 Great lakes and the one the water of the Niagara Falls flows into.


Notice the skyline of Toronto on the horizon.

Realy hoped to see a moose.... but in the end this was the only one I saw...… :(

And the next morning it was crazy early off to the Greyhound Station, only to then wait for more then an hour for them to actually open the station!! 

Me waiting in the dark in front of the Hostel.

I was nervous to cross the boarder with Greyhound, given how chaotic some of their stations are. But it all went surprisingly smoothly. We did lose one obnoxious old dude at the boarder though... He just did not return to the bus and we were told he would not be joining us for the onward journey. Donno, maybe he was obnoxious towards the customs officials too....? Who knows?

Saw this sign and it made me think... how often are we unaware of the impact we have on others... be it the words we speak, a look we give, body language or the tone of our voice.










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DAY176 - 178 Arriving in Namibia - Windhoek

-
Image
On Monday I left Fuessen by train, to Frankfurt (2 degrees C). Tuesday I was going to leave my luggage at the Pension and go shopping. Ghmf… no, I had to be out by 10am, no luggage storage facility. So I very quickly went to the closest supermarket at 8am (dressed in coat and scarf and still freezing) and bought a piece of baked cheesecake for breakfast and a "leeeettle" chocolate to take with me.  By 11:30am I was at the airport.... my flight was only at 7:40pm. What a lo ng day that was. The flight was good though, had a window seat and an empty seat next to me.  Landed on time in Windhoek and then the surprises started (which they should not have been!!!)  1. Getting out of the plane and it being super hot and the air super dry.  2. How long it took to process the travellers from 1 plane only through immigration! 1.5 hours I stood in line!  3. How much Windhoek had changed since 1996. Very little looks like I remember it. But some things are exact...
Read more

DAY 179 - 209: Luderitz PART 1: Fish River Canyon trip

-
Image
Being back home is very special! I arrived in Lüderitz Friday 2 November 2018 on Air Namibia via Oranjemund. My first time EVER flying in. I was planning to just lay around, relax after all my adventures and help my brother out with his tourists, if the opportunity comes up. Well, there does not seem to be a lot of rest for the wicked... What I was not expecting was that my lovely family would take me on a 4-day birthday trip through Southern Namibia, via Keetmanshoop (so I can collect my new ID document) to the Kokerboomwoud area and then on to the Fishriver Canyon.  We spent the actual day at the Western Rim of the Fish River Canyon at "On the Edge of Eternity" and went on a sunset - sundowner drive along the rim. It was very special indeed.  For those who are interested in these things: "The Fish River Canyon is the second largest canyon in the world and the largest in Africa, as well as the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia. It features a...
Read more

DAY 56 - 57: Knoxville, Tennessee - Asheville, North Carolina

-
Image
I did not really expect much from Knoxville. I was expecting a small town. Turns out it is not that small and is actually quite pretty. And they have these free trolley busses that cover most of the city in 3 different loops. So that's what I did, hopped on and off and got to see quite a bit. The Sunsphere. It served as the symbol for the 1982 World's Fair The Holston Peace Treaty monument An arch made out of bi- and tricycles This is how they catch the pollution coming down a side stream into the Tennessee river. I had left Chattanooga very early and did not have breakfast, so when I got to the hotel in Knoxville, I had a few Pringles and made myself a cup of coffee in the coffee machine in my room... Not long after I was not well at all... I managed to do all the sightseeing I wanted  but slept only 2 hours last night... and was so afraid things would go wrong this morning on the bus to Asheville.  Anyway, I safely got to Ashvi...
Read more