Our next stop was Ottawa, the nation's capital. And a very nice place it was too, once we got out of Jaffa and could walk around the parks, canals and buildings. I mention my preference for walking in Ottawa because all the one way streets, no left turns and no right turns make you wonder if they didn't let Mr McGoo and Wily Coyote loose one weekend to do their road marking. Wily Coyote was a big fan of straight line speed, this explains all the no turn signs, Mr McGoo was blind, which explains their randomly erratic placement. All that aside, the area around the parliament buildings and canal is very pretty and a nice place to explore on foot.
Tall buildings are generally a fascination to most people, so a stop to see the CN Tower in Toronto was inevitable. Here Nancy and I were partaking in a morning cup of Joe courtesy of our favourite Café in Montréal, Café Olympico. (No there's no satellite Oylmpico in Toronto, we made our own.)
Travelling on the Toronto city highway network is an illuminating experience, although perhaps not for the faint hearted. Try it around peak hour (apparently 0000hrs to 2359hrs), find a 2+ pax only lane, get in it and hold on because in a convertible Mini with the roof down you're like a coin being sucked up in a vacuum cleaner. Once you're in and can't get out, whatever speed the traffic does at the time is what you're vehemently obliged to do. For us this was well, well, well above what the road was signed for. What makes it even more exciting than the cyclonic jetstream of air being sythed over the windscreen and about the roofless cabin is that on one side you have a stationary concrete lane barrier and on the other side you have three, four, five or even six lanes of traffic going over 100km/hr slower than you.
If you're going to see tourist attractions in Toronto, you may as well make the effort to go the extra few hours south to the US border for Niagara Falls. All I'd ever heard about Niagara is that the falls are impressive and the township is cheesy - I wasn't wrong or dissappointed on either count. The falls are awe inspiring and the town is glitz, noise and colourfully cheesy. We had a great night, drinking, people watching, dining (cheese pizza) and just enjoying the carnival atmosphere of the place.
The other night in Quebec the Black Eyed Peas asked "where is the love" and I mentioned I'd keep an eye out for it. Wonderfully, it's actualy all around if you take the time to look. But so as not to risk appearing intrusive or crass like the paparazzi, I'll write about such occurrences when I can but not photograph them necessarily.
Whilst I was seated at a bar overlooking Clifton Hill in Niagara, a young mother sat in a wheelchair - for what reason I'll never know. On her lap sat her young daughter and behind them both was dad, pushing them up the hill, all were discussing where to go next and what to do. It was, from all outward appearances, a young family beset with a challenge most others will never face, but they didn't seem at all fazed by it.
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