Our Trip to Canada

(How I survived 2 countries, 4 states, 2 provinces, 4 hotels, 2 kids, 1 wife and a new car)

June 18th 2004

Marriott Fallsview

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

I picked up both the kids from school by 12:00 and since the car was packed the night before, we were on the road by 1:00.

Originally, we were going to spend the night in Syracuse and then arrive in Niagara Falls tomorrow. We then figured we would push on a bit further and spend the night in Rochester.

Shortly before we got to Rochester, Lori figured we could arrive in Buffalo for dinner (Buffalo Wings of course) and the proceed all the way to Niagara Falls. So that is what we did and here we are.

My kids had no trouble finishing off this portion of chicken wings

I must say that the navigation system on the new car is very impressive. We were able to get in and out of downtown Buffalo without any difficultly. We had our wings at the Anchor Bar on Main Street (quite good).

Our "fallsview" room at the Marriott is just that, a full-blown view of the falls. The kids were somewhat impressed, although Mikey was only admiring the view out of the corner of his eye as he played his gameboy.

The view from our hotel room in Niagara Falls

Tomorrow: Maid of the Mist and all that stuff....

June, 19th 2004

Marriott Fallsview

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

It was a very busy day today, but pretty much a typical "Niagara Falls Tourist" itinerary. We bought package tour tickets which included pretty much everything you would want to do here:

- Ride up to the top of the "Skylon" tower: Pretty good, especially since it was a nice clear day (but a bit cool).

- "Journey Behind the Falls": You ride down a elevator to a tunnel that terminates in a viewing platform that is right next to the falling water of the Horseshoe Falls. You can also follow another tunnel to where there is a "portal" which is actually behind the falls itself, pretty cool and a bit "misty" they give you a disposable plastic rain poncho (which is a good thing).

- Butterfly Conservatory: You enter a big "greenhouse" type building where there are a zillion butterflies flying around. I've been to this sort of thing before (at the Bronx Zoo), but this seemed quite a bit nicer.

- Maid of the Mist: This is it. The whole point of coming to Niagara Falls in the first place. I've seen pictures and films of this, but I never quite realized how deep into the Horseshoe Falls the boat goes. They also give you a rain poncho, and you really need it on this. We were on the lower deck and got pretty wet, the upper deck must be a great deal worse.

While we were on the boat, I noticed that they have a cool thing going on the U.S. side; a walkway down the gorge that takes you right next to the Bridal Veil Falls. This is something to try if I'm ever here again.

The “Maid of the Mist” boat as seen from the Skylon Tower

For dinner we went to the Rain Forest Cafe and then went to both the Guinness World Records Museum and the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum. These are both very similar, but Ripley’s is a much better attraction. Across the street, Ripley’s has a "4-D Moving Theatre". This is a virtual reality ride similar to those at various theme parks. It's worth a try if you like this sort of thing. All of this stuff is located in an area called "Clifton Hill", which is a sort of a tacky tourist-trap kind of thing. This didn't bother me, because it's Niagara Falls and I AM a tourist.

Tomorrow: Toronto Bound

June 20th, 2004

Fairmont Royal York

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

After breakfast in the hotel in Niagara Falls, we rode the incline railway down the falls so I could take some pictures and we could buy some last-minute souvenir crap before we left. It's a quick 90-minute ride around Lake Ontario to get to Toronto. On the way, I made my first Canadian gas purchase. Converting from Canadian dollars per liter to US Dollars per gallon made my head hurt.

The car’s navigation system took us right to the Ontario Science Center (or Centre as they call it up here in the great white north). The centre(er) is pretty nice for this sort of thing and it seems to be undergoing quite a bit of renovation. The most interesting thing we saw however, was the couple having sex on the hood of a Porsche in the parking lot as we arrived. I'm not making this up, as we pulled into the parking lot, about 4 parking spaces to the left of us, they were doing the deed right there! When they saw us arrive, he jumped off her and she quickly pulled up her pants. My kids were engrossed in their Game Boys at the time; otherwise they would have been treated to the whole thing.

Interesting side note: I'm pretty sure it was not even their car, since a few minutes later, I saw both of them get into a different car. So I guess the conversation went something like this:

HE: Nice Porsche, huh?

SHE: Sure is.

HE: Wanna have sex on it?

SHE: Ok.

After the Science Center(re,er), we checked into the hotel, walked to the "restaurant district" and had a pretty nice, Italian meal. On the way to the restaurant, we saw a kid on a skateboard come within about 2 inches of getting splattered on the pavement by an SUV.

The View from our hotel room in Toronto was almost as nice as our hotel in Niagara Falls!

After dinner, we walked over to the CN tower. Before they let up to the top, you have to pass through a security device that looks like something from a Sci-Fi movie. Part of the "scan" that it performs involves blowing air all over your body. Lori commented that it's either the most sophisticated scanning device made, or it just blows air up you ass to make you feel safe. I'm not sure which is correct.

Speaking of Lori, she really enjoyed the CN tower, and allowed the rest of her family to enjoy the unique experience without any worry or aggravation… NOT.

She pretty much begged to go back down the minute we got to the top.

Correction, she didn't wait to get to the top, she started in the elevator.

Tomorrow: The Hockey Hall of Fame, eh.

June 21st, 2004

Fairmont Royal York

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

After breakfast we went over to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's pretty nice and they present everything quite well. They keep the Stanley Cup in a shrine and you can pose next to it for a picture.

Being such a huge hockey fan, it was a real privilege to be able to pose with the Stanley Cup.

(Hockey is the game with the bent sticks, right?)

The only complaint I have is regarding something they can't do anything about, and that's the setting. Cooperstown is a quaint and charming little town on a lake; the Hockey Hall of Fame is basically in a shopping mall.

After the Hockey Hall of Fame, we took a cab over to Ontario Place, because everybody says this is a "must see" attraction. It's actually pretty lame. It's a very large "amusement park" in a great location on the shore of Lake Ontario. The only problem is that there is almost nothing there, and what is there is kind of shabby and in need of a major overhaul. There's a water park (it was too cold for that today) a log flume ride (nothing special) a virtual reality simulator (I've seen much better elsewhere) a couple of kiddy rides and activities and that's it. Unless you children are very young and pretty much are impressed by anything, this is definitely a place to skip. Interestingly, as we left we encountered a woman taking a satisfaction survey about the place, and we were sure to give her an honest assessment. I'm pretty sure that she went away thinking "stupid Americans" as we left.

After Ontario Place, we went back to the area of our hotel and then took a walking trip through the extensive underground pedestrian network. It's really quite impressive. One thing I noticed is that I'm pretty sure that there must be some law in Canada that specifies the maximum distance between "Mr. Sub" franchises. It seems that there is one about every 10 feet or so. I'm sure if I look carefully enough, I'll find one in my hotel room.

We had a really excellent dinner in Chinatown and then something I've been waiting for happened: at 7:42 pm, while entering a Tim Horton's doughnut shop, I passed two guys who were on the way out, and one of them said "eh." Now I can say my trip is complete.

It was at that same Tim Horton's that I first got the true feeling that I'm in a foreign country. My wife was attempting to order an iced coffee for me and the woman behind the counter kind of stared blankly at her and said: "What do you mean? You want ice in the coffee??"

By the way, Tim makes a pretty mean doughnut for a dead hockey player.

Tomorrow: Montreal, SVP.

June 22nd, 2004

Loews Hotel Vogue

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Pretty much a travel day today. Got up, had breakfast and then hit the road to Montreal. It's a straight 5-hour drive from Toronto. On the way Lori and I listened to "The Di Vinci Code" on tape. It's pretty engrossing and suspenseful. We got about 2/3 of the way through before we arrived. Since it's not that long a drive to Quebec City from here, it will be 4 days before I can find out how it ends!

We checked into the hotel (very nice), had dinner (a steak place called Gibby’s, also very nice, with very big portions) and walked around Old Montreal. We are all pretty beat, so we are hitting the sack kind of early tonight.

Tomorrow: Le Expos de Montreal v. Le Phillies de Philadelphia.

June 23rd, 2004

Loews Hotel Vogue

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Lots of walking today. We ate breakfast at the "EggSpectation" which is right across the street from our hotel. After breakfast we walked around the city for a while, and then took a cab over to the Botanical Garden / Insectarium complex. It's pretty impressive and the Insectarium had a very complete bug collection. We also checked out the Biodome, which is a very nice attraction made out of the remains of the U.S. Pavilion from Expo '67.

We then took a cab ride over to Old Montreal and had an early dinner at a place that might just has well have been called "Everything Stereotypically French." It had French Onion Soup, Crepes and Fondue. The food was actually quite good, and the kids really enjoyed the fondue, particularly cooking your own beef and chicken in the fondue pot.

We join the capacity crowd at Olympic Stadium to see the Expos / Phillies game

We walked around Old Montreal for a little while and then took the metro to Olympic Stadium for the baseball game. My kids experienced their first subway ride in their entire life, and it was not even in the U.S.A.!

The game was not that different than most other games I've been to before, except the game was indoors and the home team was 15 games behind first place.

The attendance was actually higher than I imagined, but it was still the smallest crowd at any major league game that I've ever seen (and I went to Met games in the late '70s). It was pretty sad hearing the sound of foul balls rattling around empty seats.

Final Score: Les Expos de Montreal: 2

Les Phillies de Philadelphia: 5

Tomorrow: Bonjour Quebec

June 24th, 2004

Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac

Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Cela a pris environ 3 heures à la commande ici de Montréal, puisque la route d'approche vers le vieux Québec a eu quelques véhicules en mouvement très lents. Je dois dire que c'est un hôtel très gentil et l'endroit ne pourrait pas être meilleur. La salle est un peu petit, mais je devine qui doit être prévu dans un hôtel ceci vieux. Nous avons passé une certaine heure marchant autour du vieux Québec aujourd'hui. Il y avait quelques personnes autour puisque c'est une certaine sorte des vacances provinciales aujourd'hui. Demain : Nous voyons les vues et apprécions notre dernier plein jour au Canada. Je n'ai aucune idée si ce Français est correct, comme elle a été faite par un traducteur anglais-français en ligne.

I have no idea if this French is correct, as it was done by an on-line English to French translator.

For those of us who ne parlez pas français:

It took about 3 hours to drive here from Montreal, since the approach road to Old Quebec had some very slow moving traffic.

I must say that this is a very nice hotel and the location could not be better. The room is a bit small, but I guess that's to be expected in a hotel this old.

We spent some time walking around Old Quebec today. There were quite a few people around since it's some sort of a provincial holiday today.

Tomorrow: We see the sights and enjoy our last full day in Canada.

Postscript

Unfortunately, our trip pretty much ended here. Daniel got pretty sick on Thursday night, and we decided to go home after he spent the day in the hotel on Friday. We left Quebec first thing Saturday morning and drove over 10 hours straight home. No Vermont, No Boston, and no Cape Cod (perhaps we will hit that one later this summer).

We did get to hear how “The Di Vinci Code” ended.