Toronto Pronto Tonto!

CN Tower
Baseball from above
Guess which one had their hood on?
Niagara Faaaaaaaaalls!

Well we crossed the border into Canada and reached Toronto after 19 hours on a bus and four changes(Phil's romantic notion that we avoid New York City until out last stop which added 2 hours to our journey). He said he'll make it up to me somehow, i'm still thinking of how he's going to do that.

If that wasn't bad enough we had a full day walking around D.C. the day before starting at 7 am. To cut a long story short we had gone 38 hours with only 4 hours sleep.

All I managed to do was make my bed and have a shower before flopping into bed. I had such a deep sleep that I didn't hear the Mexican singing and shouting that apprently went on in the courtyard right by my room.

This hostel 'Canadiana' is fantastic. My room had and ensuite bathroom with shower and my bed was lovely and comfortable with crisp sheets. Also they did a free pancake breakfast, although the pancakes were so stodgey that the maple syrup got absorbed instantly so I had to drench them( what a shame). It's the simple and free things that really count when you're travelling.

We didn't realise there was so much to do in Toronto and hadn't budgeted very much for this section of our trip and so mainly lazed about. We went up the C.N. tower on our first day. That was really good because the baseball stadium roof was open and so we could see them practising.

Also, while we were up there, I spotted a funny fan shaped glass roof on the harbourfront. We decided to go there after lunch at ' TimHortons', a popular food branch in Ontario. Phil felt he should have his food for free as him and this Tim chap share surnames.

The roof turned out to cover a stage where a concert was going on. There was a wonderful woman from Barbados playing with an excellent band. They played jazz,blues, soul and calypso and she had the most amazing voice, best of all it was free!

When we got back to the hostel I still needed sleep so had a 'siesta', it was really sweet as, when I awoke, one of my roomates had turned the light off and closed the curtains for me.

Phil loves the fact that he can get served here being 19 and all but I still can't buy alcohol. We should really have thought about that before we came!

Today, we went to Niagra Falls on the cheapest trip we could find. It was pretty decent for the money we paid. We went to a winery and did some wine tasting , not such a great idea at 11 am but hey its the only alcohol i'm going to get while I'm here. We then stopped at the worlds largest whirl pool and then got discounted tickets for Maid of the Mist.

Phil and I looked very fetching in our anoraches and i gave up with mine after it kept falling in my face( hence why Phil looks alot dryer than me). It was fun but I got water in my eyes and it stung like crazy so didn't see alot but there's so much mist that i didn't miss much anyway.

We then went for a walk along the rim and got really close to the Canadian Falls drop (there being 3 waterfalls that make up Niagara- American falls, a small waterfall called something like the bridleway and then Canadian Falls). I followed a certian bit of water with my eye down to the drop and it made stomach fall! I thought it would have been bigger but it was still impressive.

We've just been emailed a link from Caitlin(Phil's pen pal that we stayed with in Seattle) about the hostel we've booked in Boston (our next stop). We had decided to avoid HI hostels after our experience in Washington D.C. but this website says that the hostel we're now going to is horrific and that the manager is crazy and comes into your room in the middle of the night and shines a torch in your face. So we're trying to book some emergency accomodation and it looks like we'll have to stay in the Hi hostel after all, if they have some room. Don't worry Dad i'll keep you posted on that one!