Last fall, I booked a one day seminar on travel photography which was put on by National Geographic Traveler magazine. Thus, a long weekend break in Toronto was on the books. I flew up on Friday morning on Canjet, the seminar was on Sunday and I flew home Monday afternoon. In between, I would meet up with various friends, old and new, and see a little of the city

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The sun always shines at 35,000 feet

Canjet had the cheapest price and indeed it was a good, if uneventful flight, nice plane, no frills, (you had to buy anything other than coffee or tea in flight). No matter. We left Halifax a little late due to some last minute de-icing so were a bit late arriving after the 2 hour flight. And, by the way, though it did on the way up, the sun actually didn't shine at 35,000 feet on the way back to Halifax on Monday!

I realized I'd actually been to Toronto 4 times before this, all of which were pretty much flying visits. This was not much different as I really only had a full day and a half day to see anything of the city. My impressions of the city built over the years of seeing little more than the downtown area, then, are probably biased. I know that Toronto has many multicultural neighbourhoods with vibrant and exciting districts. The downtown core is filled with Big Business, university, government, entertainment, exhibit and convention centers, and many other tourist attractions. For visitors, it's a city for shopping, dining and entertainment. If you can't find something to do, if you can't find what you're looking to buy or eat, you aren't trying very hard.

I got lucky with the weather. For a mid-March weekend, the temperatures soared into the low to mid teens (Celsius). The day I arrived was a bit chilly but the other days ranged from clear and sunny to overcast and damp but mild. My friend Sheila was waiting for me at the arrival gate and we bundled my bags into her car. I took up my 35 mm camera to load in some film and discovered that my UV filter that protects my lens was absolutely shattered! Luckily the glass didn't scratch the lens itself. Whew!

We All Live In a Yellow Submarine

The order of the day was to drive to Burlington to pick up another friend, Sue and head to Niagara Falls for the afternoon. I hadn't seen Sue for more than 4 years when she moved from Halifax to Florida and subsequently, London, Ontario. She drove up from London and met us in the parking lot of a shopping center and we all went in one car down the road. In Niagara, we stopped in at a school where another friend, Theresa, teaches a small class of special needs kids who were really excited to meet us. They peppered me with lots of questions about the plane and journey and then they serenaded us, songbooks in hand, with a rousing rendition of Yellow Submarine. One young lad also drew some pictures for me with which I was mightily impressed. So much talent in a lad so young!

Downtown, Everything's Waiting For You

We progressed downtown into the city of Niagara Falls into the tourist area. I gawped at the over-the-top-ness of Clifton Hill. That's a street that looks like a cross between Vegas, Disney World and Broadway combined. There are restaurants, arcades, attractions such as wax museums and haunted houses, hotels, and it's all lit up with garish neon at night. The restaurants are often themed and expensive and it's not far from two casinos and more hotels in one small area than I've ever seen! It's a real assault on the senses. Everything is larger and brighter than life from a Hershey Kiss on their store that's the size of a SmartCar to a 2 storey tall guitar on the Hard Rock Café to 3 storey high cartoon characters and signs that you could probably see from space!

Our first stop was the Rainforest Café, at the foot of Clifton Hill. A theme restaurant that has an extensive menu, gift shop and bar. It's theme is… yes… the rainforest and you are "treated" to periodic bouts of thunder and simulated lightening, salsa and reggae music, animal sounds (but someone hasn't told them that there aren't elephants in the rainforest!) and a visual spectacle of animatronic animals, a fountain, an aquariums or two and an awful lot of food. The stools in the bar look like the back ends and legs of various animals. The items on the menus are pretty tasty but oversize and larger than life in portions and price. I found it expensive but fun to experience at least once. None of us could finish our meal though. Far too much food.

Over the Falls in a Barrel

Down the hill and across the street to the main attraction. Niagara Falls. It's overcast and chilly with a pretty brisk breeze. The first set of falls you see are the Niagara or American falls which are on the U.S. side of the border. There's a big, high platform over the river on that side as well, not far from the Rainbow bridge spanning the ice packed Niagara river. The American falls were packed on the sides and edges with huge chunks of ice and boulders. You can see up the river a little way to the Horseshoe falls, which, though are on the same side of the river, are actually on Canadian soil. You'd have to look at a map of the area up close to see how the border runs between them. Those falls were nearly completely shrouded in mist from the pounding water.

Along the waterfront road between them is a lovely park which, in summer, is a peaceful contrast to the gaudiness of Clifton Hill. It's well manicured with sculptures, a funicular car to take you up by the hotels and casino. There is a pay-parking lot but you can also take hop on hop off bus tours around the city that will drop you off at the visitor center as well. The main viewing platform for the Horseshoe Falls is Table Rock, behind the visitor center which houses a couple of restaurants, gift shops and ticket booths to tours both on the water, behind the falls or around the city. We watched the chilly water rushing towards the falls, chunks of ice whooshing by before dropping off the cliff in immense cascades of roaring surf. Table Rock is right over the river and only feet from one edge of the falls. Unfortunately much of the falls from here were obscured by the mist but it's still pretty impressive just the same.

After a dousing by some windblown mist, we headed back inside to browse in the gift shop to get warm again. From here, our next stop is the new Casino. Very nice. All marble and crystal and brass. And that was just the shopping galleria. We didn't actually go into the casino itself. Our mission was fudge. Swiss Fudge. A small shop in the complex where you can watch the fudge being made and try some samples before you buy. Yum! We each bought a slice and had the staff cut each slice in thirds so that we each had a taste of three different types.

Time's getting short, with many a mile yet to drive so we decided we had better hit the road. A lot of people say Niagara Falls is tacky and some of it definitely is. Clifton Hill is beyond tacky, though. It's just so much larger than life that you just have to laugh at it. The falls? It's the kind of thing that you think, because they're almost a cliché, that you won't really find them up to your image of them. But you know what? You *will* be impressed by the force of nature if you can see past the tourists. Coming here in March, we were lucky not to have to fight hordes of people for a view at the guard rails. Come in winter when the ice packs the lower river and sometimes builds up an inch thick on the rails and glistens in the sun. Sunny days mean rainbows. Cloudy, rainy days show off what nature can really be like. Yet no matter what, the roar of the water invades your senses.

We dropped Sue back off where she'd parked and drove into Toronto where I was staying at the downtown Delta Chelsea hotel. A lot of traffic on the expressways and downtown because it was the end of rush hour and there was a sports event on that night, I think. I checked into the hotel and in my room just in time to get a phone call from another friend, Paul, who arranged to come to the hotel when he got off work. Time for me to rest and sort myself out. Paul and I spent the evening in the lounge on the 27th floor having cocktails, talking and admiring the view east toward Etobicoke and Mississauga. A grand first day.

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