Falling for Toronto

Water falling, and other visual delights:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=126130&id=510568119&l=2d9f6d4ecf

Since I saw Iguassu Falls a few years ago, I've always been underwhelmed by other waterfalls, so I wasn't sure what to expect from Niagara. When we arrived (after a mad dash across Toronto to catch the train after an alarm clock malfunction) it was rainy and the view of the falls was predominantly of mist. Like the good tourists we are, we decided to take the "Journey Behind the Falls" tour, and it turned out to be a good investment. Two tunnels take you underneath and behind the falls, so that you can look out at the wall of water from the other side and feel the spray as it thunders past you. You also get to wear stylish yellow bin bags, which is always a bonus. When we resurfaced the weather had cleared, and we now had a great view of the falls. It was really impressive - the Canadian horseshoe falls are huge, and the US falls on the other side were still framed in pretty Autumn colours. After taking a photo or two we headed into Niagara Falls town for lunch to find it a lot like Gatlinburg Tennessee. Fortunately, you couldn't see any of the fast food chains or massive hotels from the falls themselves.

Toronto was also a big hit. We stayed in undoubtedly the swankiest hostel I've ever seen (everything was brand new, fitted out with wooden floors and chrome, with a communal area I'd be proud to call my living room - see photos). We wandered the city, stopping for coffee at a retro coffee emporium in the excellently named district of Cabbagetown. Our visit was rounded off with a visit to the haven of cool known as Queen Street West, where we had heard we could find an authentic fish & chip shop. Alas, it was no match for the chippies of the Teesside Seaside - the fish to chips ratio was too heavily weighted in favour of the chips, someone had tried to gentrify the mushy peas by adding copious amounts of freshly ground black pepper, and they were under the misguided impression that salmon was an acceptable fish to batter. Still, after 6 months of searching it was good to find somewhere that knew what a mushy pea was...