Canada

July 10, 2017

Canada

Niagara Falls

Walk from hostel to Niagara Falls

Hornblower Cruise

I took the Hornblower cruise to the falls and totally thought the little waterfall was 'Niagara falls’ and thought, “man it's smaller in person” then we went around the corner and saw the big one!

So powerful! So much water!

Hornblower cruise video

The yellow foam stuff floating on the water is made from broken down leaves and other organic substances and I believe it has something to do with the lime in the rock (don’t quote me on that one though).

Niagara Brewing Company

Skylon Tower: Great view of the falls!

Journey under the falls

This excursion allows you to walk through a tunnel built under the falls and you can hear the power of the water rushing above you! There’s also little tunnels you can walk down and see the actual water in the waterfall!

Downtown Niagara Falls

Toronto

Toronto is a beautiful city! Below is a picture of the old city hall and new city hall. The old city hall cost 2.5 million dollars to build back in 1889 (about 55 million today) and was designed by architect E.J. Lennox. The town was angry with him because the building was costing so much to build so they wouldn’t let him put a plaque on the building saying he designed it. He decided to hire someone to carve his name into stones all the way around the building instead! He also had someone carve disfigured faces of the people that were angry with him on the building. So funny!

Yonge-Dundas square: Mini times square, 60 million people visit a year

A few fun facts:

The financial district has an intersection called MINT crossing. Canadian money is called mint and this crossing has a bank on each corner that starts with each letter in the word mint: Bank of Montreal, Canadan Imperial Bank of Commerce, Bank of Nova Scotia and Toronto Bank.
There's an underground path of 1200+ stores that runs right under Toronto. It's very useful in the winter because people can eat under ground and never have to go outside! The path connects to most buildings and parking decks in Toronto.
The Royal York Hotel is where the queen stays when she visits and Justin Bieber has stayed here! There are bee colonies on the roof and they make a special honey beer that you can only get in the hotel! So neat!
Yonge Street is apparently the longest street in the world and it’s in Toronto! You can drive on it for 18 hours!
Locals say Toronto without the second T like “Torono” like locals in Atlanta say “Atlana” so neat!

Pasture with fake cows: Built to bring peace to workers in financial district

Trying to pick the tallest building in the MINT intersection lol

Above left picture: windows are built with gold to hold in heat in winter

Old government building used for the bar exam for law students now.

Whiskey Distillery district

The CN tower used to be to the tallest building in the world (now it's the Burj Khalifa in Dubai). There's a really cute mini train that runs around it for kids and parents.

Baseball game letting out during our tour.... got the full Toronto experience!

Chinatown

Chinatown: Woman hand making dumplings in bottom right picture

Kingsington market- Walmart tried to come here about four years ago but that didn't work because the locals signed a petition against it. They felt it would damage the uniqueness of the neighborhood and that it wasn’t needed.

Vegetarian Haven (Delicious vegetarian/Vegan restaurant)

Bottom left picture is part of the college in Toronto... very cool building!

Niagara on the lake

I took Niagara Parkway to a little town called Niagara on the lake and it was lined with mansions and wineries along the river. I drove through at sunset which was beautiful! The town reminds me a lot of Savannah and made me miss the walks with Stephanie and the doggies downtown in the evenings when we were in school! Apparently it's voted one of the most beautiful towns in Ontario.