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Yesterday, it was off to the culminating, must see attraction of all trips to toronto.
Yes...we were off to see niagara falls ( and yes...I still have difficulty pronouncing the damn word).
SO it was up at 7am and down to St. George station for the pick up at 8am. ( and yes...it was a saturday morning)
at 8.05 this big black van pulls up on the curb, and we were looking at each other wondering '' man...is this right?"
Out springs, this small, crew cut brunette, complete with eyebrow piercing, and soon we were on this mafia look alike van to pick up 2 other victims and then to our objective of the falls.
It's about an hour and twenty minutes drive to niagara, and for about half the trip the guide, jojo was giving us a running commentary about the history of niagara, the falls, the origins of 'Tacky Town' ( local garish touristy district 15 minutes from the falls) and the darwin award winning escapades of some lunatics who stuffed themselves in oversized barrels and sent themselves along down the 57m stretch of the thundering falls. Kinda interesting. But...then again...having been up at 7 am after about 5 hours of sleep the night before, u just wish that " for the love of god...enough already" ( doesn't help that she has the classic loud, whiny canadian/american drawl...jarring i tell ya...jarring) But she was a great guide. Value for money too at $45 for the entire day's agenda. ( cheapest niagara tour that I could find )
At the falls, we were just blown away. Literally, mentally, physically. There are actually 3 falls in all that can be seen. 2 of them, the American falls and the Bridal (bride's ?) veil fall ( it's this tiny strip next to the american falls) belong to the americans, the canadians have the Horseshoe falls. and the canadians have the better view of the falls. The americans just get a back view of the falls and Goat island.
Niagara means thunder water in one of its more apt native american translations. And when u get there, u get it. The thundering force of this natural wonder just blows u away, the best way to experience it with all 5 senses is to go through the tunnels, right behind the falls in "Journey behind the falls". There u get up close and personal to this giant. Even walking along the boulevard next to the falls gets u bathed in this ethreal mist . u are literally in the essence of the falls. Remember to look up at the trees whilst u walk along side the falls, they glisten silver in the sunlight with mini stellactites draped from their boughs and branches. It's like walking in narnia when the snow queen is in rule. Oh ... and it's freaking cold too. Hey...ice crystals on trees when the sun is out...r u kidding me?
The american view:
Backview of the falls and the churning rapids that lead to it
Thundering water.....you get my drift? 
On a clear day u can see this mist all the way up in CN towers in Toronto
Niagara falls...the experience of a life time..........
Well, after niagara falls, we headed off to niagara on the lake, which is bascially this little village based near lake ontario and near the origins of the falls. quaint little town. old buildings dating to the post 1812 era. ( pre-1812 buildings were razed to the ground by spoil sport americans when they were about to lose this british settlement back to the british in the 1812 war. it ended in a peace treaty, the british got back their town and began to rebuild again) Fronting this little town is lake ontario. So there we were up on the hills at the park, eating out packed lunch of beef sandwiches with chips and coleslaw topped with nice rich gravy that went cold within 10 seconds of opening the packagin. Need i reiterate...it was COLD. yup so we were basically prancing around, moving from table to bench to table again trying to search for a warmer spot where we could have lunch and enjoy the view of the lake. It was like a neurotic indian food dance, flapping white packages in hand and complains of the cold filling the air.
After niagara falls, it was the final stop at the magnotta wine distillery. Hey...countless free wine sampling, really cheap quality wine...no wonder some consider this the best part of the trip ever. Magnotta makes some of the nicest ice wine which is apparently a speciality of canada. It's this special wine where the grapes it's made from are left on the vines deep into winter and are only harvested when the temperatures are averaging -8 degrees celsius. In such cold dry weathers, the grapes would have shrunken and the juice within them frozen all leading to super concentrated grape juice that is made into the sweetest wine i've ever tasted. In the markets a bottle of it goes for about $65 but at the distillery, the cheapest is $30 and the most expensive $55. Factory outlet prices rock. The more expensive ice wines are apparently the ones made from red grapes because their skins are much thinner and often break before they can be harvested.
well...so basically that was my exciting day.
hehehe...dinner was also a nice experience. Went to this korean place where u basically cook ur own meal in a huge silver pan. Good stuff good stuff.... and we also had a pot of pork bone soup which was something like a more bony replica of shi zi tou. hehehe....
What a great day.................