Passion 4 Travel

Toronto & Niagara

From Vancouver I flew to Toronto - the provincial capital of Ontario, and with a population of 2.4 million, the largest city in Canada.

On my first day I wandered round the city - through Chinatown and along the Harbour front - getting my bearings. On first impressions, I immediately preferred Vancouver - it is smaller, friendlier and has more to do. On the plus side, Toronto (and Ontario) was having a bit of a heat wave so the weather was a balmy 22'c. I was pretty tired as I'd only had 3 hrs sleep on the flight over. That night Eskimo (Emily) who I'd met on the West turned up in Toronto. So I spent the next three days doing stuff with her.

OK. What is 181 stories, 553.33m (1.815 ft, 5") high and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the World's Tallest Building? The CN Tower, of course. Well, I was in Toronto, so it had to be done. I had to nip up and take a look. Whilst I can say, bin there done that, it wasn't mind-blowing or anything as breathtaking as that. The views were very hazy, due mainly to the smog. There are nicer views from Vancouver Tower. But hey I can still annoy people with the "I've been up there" line! ;-) We also checked out the Toronto Stock Exchange and Old & New City Halls. The weather was 22'c again!

The second biggest highlight of my trip (a very close second to the Rockies) has to be Niagara Falls. Wow! Double-wow! Mind-blowing and breath taking! The Falls, which span the Niagara River, are actually three - the most spectacular (and the one most commonly seen on TV etc) is the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. The other two, owned by the US, are named Bridal Veil Falls (or originally the American Falls) and Goat Falls. The Canadian Falls are better and as a whole, they are better viewed from the Canadian side. Something like 34 million gallons of water flow over the falls every minute!!!
For more information on Niagara Falls, continue to page 2 >>>