Toronto :: Canada
The wet, the pointy and the faux-castelian.
Places: Toronto & Niagara.
Coolest thing I did: The glass floor on the CN tower.
Coolest thing I didn´t know: You can buy your rapper chains here in parts. First pick your chains, then the medallion to hang it off.
I know it's been quite a while since I updated this so I will break it up into parts over the next few days. First, lets talk about being a tourist in our new town.
It has to be said, as a tourist town, Toronto itself is far better at being a live-in city than it is at being a tourist site. If you are thinking of real tourist attractions al-la the Sydney Opera House or Harbour Bridge, there is really only one in the city itself: the all seeing eye that is the CN tower. We took about a week and a half to find a day clear enough to make it worth while, but the afternoon was perfect. It was probably the best day we'd had in Canada thus far and you could see forever from up there. We avoided spending $18 going up there on the days we couldn't even see the top of the tower from the ground, we thought that would be a bit wasteful.
I don't usually have a problem with heights, but I have to say the initial rush of watching out the window of the lift as it climbs hundreds of metres in less than a minute does make you take an involuntary step back into the corner. I was also a bit taken aback by the glass floor that lets you look down at the street level below. While I'd seen that before in Auckland, this was seemed a whole lot higher. For some reason I seemed to think that walking out onto the glass on my tip-toes would somehow make me lighter, before common sense kicked in (well that and seeing Yvette wander out as if it was normal floor, I couldnt be shown up could I?) and I realised it was going to be pretty safe. I didn't even mind when all those school kids started jumping up and down on the glass floor a little later.
I won't describe the view, it's hard to. You can't see the other side of Lake Ontario but you can see further than we'd gone towards the cities edges. We could make out our little hostel amongst all the multi-story buildings along Queen Street and Younge street (the worlds longest street) lined by sky scrapers off into the horizon. Wait, I just did try and describe the view.
The other big attraction that you are supposed to see is Niagara Falls. I did it on the extra cheap but cheerful Magic Bus Tour, so it was an old school bus painted in rainbow colours a-la Electronic Acid Cool Aid Test, but instead of hippies and authours on heaps of drugs, it was a bunch of hung over backpackers. On the way out they stop off in the winery district outside Toronto and tell you how unique the climate is and how different that makes Niagara valley wine to the rest of the worlds output. So 15 small glasses of taste testing later I made a firm decision that Canadian wine leaves a little to be desired. Ranging from undrinkable (and I'm no snob, I'll drink pretty much anything) to the bizarre, I couldn't name one I'd rush out and buy again. With one exception: Ice wine. The last three glasses were of a rich, sweet tasting drop that can only be made by picking the grapes at sub-zero temperatures (something I'd say Canadian wine would be unique in) and it's both strong and drinkable. I was a fan of this one, but due to the loss of moisture in picking the grapes in the cold, it's pretty pricey, requiring lots of extra grapes to make a vat of the stuff. Maybe when I have a job I'll be able to buy some more.
On the way to the falls they tell you how many bathtubs/beer bottles/swimming pools per year/hour/second go over the Horseshoe Falls and you kind of roll your eyes and tell yourself they can't possibly be THAT big. However, they are as staggering as everyone has said. Taking those first pictures into mist thick enough to count and rain in some countries you take back all the skepticism you may have had. You find yourself walking along the waterfront away from the falls and taking a picture every 10 metres, trying to top that last one you just took. Rainbows in the mist, water rushing into huge boulders of ice, it's all there. It's one of those you-just-have-to-see-it kind of places.
The rest of Niagara leaves alot to be desired. Like most places that have been a tourist attraction for a long time, the falls have managed to turn the town of Niagara into Carnival Ride Hell. Even Burger King has a giant plaster Frankenstein on the roof, predictably eating a Whopper. Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, they are all here. There is also a Casino hidden behind all the crap somewhere, but I didn't bother taking a look. I can't imagine it's like Monte Carlo or anything. I wonder if it's the yanks coming over the border from the fall less impressive (but still cool) American Falls that inspire all this kitsch or if it's self-inflicted by the Canadians. Still, it can't take away from the natural beauty of the falls themselves. Its easy enough to just turn your back on it all.
The only other big tourist attraction we've been to is the Casa Loma, a French-style Chateau built by a bloke who managed to get a Monopoly over the supply of electricity to the city of Toronto around the time electricity was invented. His reign at the top of the Canadian corporate world was short-lived but he managed to leave this monument to his ambition looking down the barrel of Spadina Street to Downtown Toronto. It's been restored rather recently and it pretty much comes off looking like a new world Versailles. My favorite bit was the very complex shower that had jets shooting out at all angles from this huge cage like structure. The latest technology in the 1920s but thank god they never caught on. The view from the Scotish-style turret on the roof was probably the best you could get over the city until the CN tower finally came about in 1976. Worth a look but not a must see.
Overall, I'm finding Torontos charms are not so obvious as other large cities I've been to. A lack of landmarks and it's oh-so sensible and practically rigid grid system (everyone here talks in intersections) don't make for an obviously beautiful place, but the whole place grows on me daily. While there isn't the country town friendliness of Vancouver or the European nightlife of Montreal, it's a rewarding place to be. More on the less obvious later.