Day 15: Toronto & Niagara Falls
Arrived in Toronto about 10am after the overnight bus, managed to sleep for some of it, but still pretty tired! Â Went to the hostel, dumped our bags and went for a wander and some an outstanding breakfast. Â Grant decided to man up and by some flip flops so we went and picked those. Â Came back to the hotel, watched a film for a while then were able to check in and get some sleep.
That night we went out on a pub crawl with the hostel, met a few people and decided we would go to a club, great. Â We jump in a taxi with an aussie guy name Jared and tell the driver where we’re going, he drops us off somewhere , but it definitely wasn’t where the club was. Â Wandered along the street and saw some people coming out a bar, asked them where a good club was, they said they were heading somewhere and would take us, as you do. Â So we get in a car with these complete strangers and head to this club, turns out to be some sort of Brazillian underground dance place - we stayed for one drink then made tracks. Â Walked along the road and went into the first bar we came to; it turned out to be the only Scottish bar in Canada. Â We ended up spending the rest of the night drinking Tennents with some guy from Dundee! Â It tastes just as bad 3000 miles away as it does at home!
The next day was a designated hangover day, slept late and didn’t do too much, the weather wasn’t too great so we could use that as an excuse. Â Spent the afternoon booking hostels and travel for the rest of the states (we learnt from the Boston adventure!). Â Watched some hockey in the hostel and called it a night.
Next day we were up bright and early and did a bus tour round Toronto, we were absolutely freezing for most of it, and it wasn’t the best tour either. Â Wandered round the St. Lawrence food market and got some lunch then a quiet afternoon in the hostel. Â At night we headed out and picked up some food and made ourselves dinner at the hostel for a change.
Up first thing the following day for a day trip to Niagara. Â We got stuck in traffic heading there with a tour guide who loved to ask himself questions, it quickly grew tiring! Â Niagara was good, we went on the Maid of the Mist and got suitably soaked, had some lunch, wasted some time in an arcade and ate some fudge. Â Afterwards the tour went on to Niagara-on-the-lake, basically a little town that someone decided to open a load of completely unrelated tourist shops, “The Scottish Loft” being a prime example, a little shop that sold lots of Scottish food in the middle of this little town in Canada. Â We did go in for a wander though, but decided we hadn’t been away long enough to allow ourselves to buy an Irn Bru just yet! Â After another pointless stop on the tour at a local winery, we eventually got back into the city just before 8pm. Â We grabbed a quick shower then headed out on a pub crawl with the hostel. Â We got suitably drunk and argued with Americans over how the pronounce things, we’ve found its a good way to make friends!
Another lazy morning the next day, then met up with a guy Grant used to work with for lunch, a wander and a few beers. Â In the evening we headed to the CN tower, we were aiming to be up there at sunset but just missed it. Afterwards we headed to a sports bar to get some dinner and watch the Maple Leafs game. Â We’ve decided we can sit and watch a game of ice hockey, have baseball on in the background whilst we’re having a beer, but do our best to avoid NFL at all costs!
Off to visit my family in Kitchener tomorrow!
