Well, I think it's about time I continued my tales from the True North (strong and free, as the Canadian national anthem goes).
I believe I left it last time from our trip to the top of the CN Tower, which is from whence I will proceed. Don't worry, the language won't be this flowery and poncy all the time, I promise. Anyway, we had a very nice meal in the 360 Restaurant (so called because that's the number of degrees by which it rotates over the course of 71 minutes - fact), and decided to retire early as we had a long day ahead of us the next day...Niagara Falls day!

Before we booked our trip to the Falls, we had the aforementioned unenviable task of collecting the money transferred by Ben's folks to tide him over whilst the bank made the necessary arrangements regarding replacing his cards etc. Word of advice: never, ever, EVER, have your card stolen in North America. Or anywhere, come to think of it, but especially not here. Tracking down money over here seems about as easy as collecting 100 gold tickets in the Crystal Dome finale of The Crystal Maze (how many times did anyone ever actually do that??), not counting all the little bastard silver ones that were blatantly abundant in that thing. We were redirected so many times to different buildings in Toronto that at one point we began to believe that the money would only be handed over as a reward for some complex orienteering exercise, or in exchange for the Arc of the Covenant.
Anyway, to cut a (very) long story short, we eventually tracked down the cash, booked our Niagara Falls extravaganza and jumped on the tour bus, driven by the irrepressible Barry McDermott. White hair, comb-over (artfully done, I must add) and black pencil moustache; the man was a consummate pro from beginning to end. I'm mulling over whether to crown him the first inductee to the Jolly Boys Hall of Fame. Which reminds me, I've left out our visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame, but you lot would probably find that boring anyway. But I digress. First stop on the tour was a winery just outside the town of Beamsville, Ontario, owned in part by none other than screen legend and Saturday Night Live alumnus Dan Aykroyd! Supping some rather fine wines, including the famous Canadian ice wine, I added to my tally of wine tasting on several continents. Feeling somewhat half-cut, we boarded the bus again; next stop Niagara Falls.
Perhaps one of the most famous boat rides in the world, the Maid of the Mist was the part I was particularly looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint. We were taken about as close as it's possible to go to the Falls themselves without dying or something, although there comes a point where you can see absolutely bugger all apart from spray, hence the name of the boat. It really is quite a moving experience to be honest; a monument to the unrelenting power of nature, and how that power can at times be the most threatening yet beautiful thing you've ever seen. Nature should be respected; it doesn't have to be loved, but a bit of respect wouldn't go amiss every now and then. Of course, another thing which should never be underestimated is the unrelenting power of humanity to cheapen the beauty of nature by putting a great big fucking casino right next to it, and tarting the whole area up like Blackpool. This we discovered when the town by the Falls was lit up like an English seaside town on a saturday night - the only thing missing on the scene was a hen party from Burnley dressed as tarts and vicars.
After the meal at a nearby hotel restaurant, and a bit of time admiring the illuminated Falls, it was back on the bus to Toronto, where we returned at nearly 11pm after a 10 hour day out. A great experience which really should be done by anyone living in or visiting Canada I would say.

I'll end it there for now, as this has been a quite excessive post this time, but I'll warn you - there is a lot more to come!

Well, I think it's about time I continued my tales from the True North (strong and free, as the Canadian national anthem goes).
I believe I left it last time from our trip to the top of the CN Tower, which is from whence I will proceed. Don't worry, the language won't be this flowery and poncy all the time, I promise. Anyway, we had a very nice meal in the 360 Restaurant (so called because that's the number of degrees by which it rotates over the course of 71 minutes - fact), and decided to retire early as we had a long day ahead of us the next day...Niagara Falls day!

Before we booked our trip to the Falls, we had the aforementioned unenviable task of collecting the money transferred by Ben's folks to tide him over whilst the bank made the necessary arrangements regarding replacing his cards etc. Word of advice: never, ever, EVER, have your card stolen in North America. Or anywhere, come to think of it, but especially not here. Tracking down money over here seems about as easy as collecting 100 gold tickets in the Crystal Dome finale of The Crystal Maze (how many times did anyone ever actually do that??), not counting all the little bastard silver ones that were blatantly abundant in that thing. We were redirected so many times to different buildings in Toronto that at one point we began to believe that the money would only be handed over as a reward for some complex orienteering exercise, or in exchange for the Arc of the Covenant.
Anyway, to cut a (very) long story short, we eventually tracked down the cash, booked our Niagara Falls extravaganza and jumped on the tour bus, driven by the irrepressible Barry McDermott. White hair, comb-over (artfully done, I must add) and black pencil moustache; the man was a consummate pro from beginning to end. I'm mulling over whether to crown him the first inductee to the Jolly Boys Hall of Fame. Which reminds me, I've left out our visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame, but you lot would probably find that boring anyway. But I digress. First stop on the tour was a winery just outside the town of Beamsville, Ontario, owned in part by none other than screen legend and Saturday Night Live alumnus Dan Aykroyd! Supping some rather fine wines, including the famous Canadian ice wine, I added to my tally of wine tasting on several continents. Feeling somewhat half-cut, we boarded the bus again; next stop Niagara Falls.
Perhaps one of the most famous boat rides in the world, the Maid of the Mist was the part I was particularly looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint. We were taken about as close as it's possible to go to the Falls themselves without dying or something, although there comes a point where you can see absolutely bugger all apart from spray, hence the name of the boat. It really is quite a moving experience to be honest; a monument to the unrelenting power of nature, and how that power can at times be the most threatening yet beautiful thing you've ever seen. Nature should be respected; it doesn't have to be loved, but a bit of respect wouldn't go amiss every now and then. Of course, another thing which should never be underestimated is the unrelenting power of humanity to cheapen the beauty of nature by putting a great big fucking casino right next to it, and tarting the whole area up like Blackpool. This we discovered when the town by the Falls was lit up like an English seaside town on a saturday night - the only thing missing on the scene was a hen party from Burnley dressed as tarts and vicars.
After the meal at a nearby hotel restaurant, and a bit of time admiring the illuminated Falls, it was back on the bus to Toronto, where we returned at nearly 11pm after a 10 hour day out. A great experience which really should be done by anyone living in or visiting Canada I would say.

I'll end it there for now, as this has been a quite excessive post this time, but I'll warn you - there is a lot more to come!