O Canada

Canada's great, Eh? Tuesday, we drove to Toronto. The next morning, we visited Casa Loma. It's a mansion/castle that a very rich man built and then he went broke. It was interesting, but probably not a must see. From there, we went to the Bata Shoe Museum. Who could resist? Mostly, it focused on the history of shoes, not so much on current shoes, or anyone's obsessive collection of shoes. It probably falls into the "not a must see" category as well, but it was fun. Next, we walked over to the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. I felt we had paid enough entry fees for the day, so we decided to just check out the store and the entryway. There was a set of three large pots that when you look at the negative space, you see two children. Very cool. There was also a woman making clay flowers at a table. The store was very nice, too. I thought we did pretty well for free and this museum is on my "must see" list for the next visit.

Thursday was our walk around Toronto day. The first stop was the CN tower. Not a quick stop, I think we were there for over 3 hours. Long lines, but amazing views. The day was clear and the visit was worth the time and energy. They also have lots of large stuffed animals that people can take pictures with, if that's what you're into, apparently we are. When we finally started our walk, we went to the Toronto Music Garden. It was designed by YoYo Ma and a landscape architect. Each area relates to a different musical piece. Very nice, right on the water. A nice swan family visited with us. We then walked by the Hockey Hall of Fame, but it was closing as we got there. I guess we spent too much time at the CN tower. Our journey concluded on Canada's Walk of Fame. There were stars for Joni Mitchell, John Candy, Neil Young, Bobby Orr and a few other people I have never heard of.

The next morning, we drove to Niagara Falls. We checked in and then headed over to the touristy falls area. The falls are amazing. We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride. You get a souvenir blue plastic rain jacket and the the boat takes you right up to the falls. Up close and personal, in your face mist! We had a little scare on the way out when our elevator broke. Our guide pried the back door of the elevator open so that a second guide could get on and dig out the secret hidden key. All the riders now know where the secret hidden key is kept. I feel safer on all future elevator rides with this knowledge. The key saved the day and we were off and elevating again. Our next adventure was the behind the falls tour. This was a little less exciting (though, not to my co-tourist), but we did get another plastic rain jacket (yellow!). You do get to stand right next to the falls and also look through a couple of portals behind the falls. I think there might be a better behind the falls walk on the American side, we'll have to check that out on the next trip. We decided to splurge on a nice dinner in a restaurant with views of the falls. Then we waited for the sun to set when they shine colorful lights on the falls. The day ended with a beautiful fireworks show. Pretty nice, eh?

~Xzfz