Round The World in 777 Days: 7/3/05

Day 28 - Niagara Falls - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Day 28 – 6th July 2005 -5:00 GMT Total Miles 8372

Set off at 10am after breakfast and drove the 435Km to Ottawa stopping on the way for lunch. We checked into the Aristocrate hotel where we had a suite. Spent the evening catching up on e-mail and surfing the web.

Day 27 - Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Day 27 – 5th July 2005 -5:00 GMT

Got up at 9am and had the free breakfast supplied by the hostel, Then wandered down to the falls and paid the 13 bucks to go on the maid in the mist boat ride into the centre of the horseshoe falls.The ride lasted 15 minutes and it felt like you were paying to get rained on, At least you were given a cool blue mac. It was a great experience and worth the money for the close up view. Then went up the hill ad looked at the shops in the Niagara Falls View Casino mall. I spent the afternoon in the Casino Niagara playing $1/$2 no limit poker, I then also played a bit of blackjack. In the evening we went to the wild mushroom bar and grill and ate, drank beer and played some pool.

Jill and I with our Cool Blue Macs

Maid in the Mist boat in the centre of The Horseshoe Falls

Niagara Skylon Tower

Myself outside Casino Niagra

Day 26 - Toronto - Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Day 26 – 4th July 2005 -5:00 GMT Total Miles 8075

Checked out of Dundas Square hotel just before 11am and set off for Niagara Falls, stopped on route at Tim Horton’s for a sandwich and doughnut, arrived in Niagara Falls at around 1.30pm. We checked into our hostel which is run by a very friendly English couple from Wigan. We decided we would do our washing while it was so hot outside, this was free at the hostel. We then had a 10 minute walk to the falls and we had dinner at the garden club restaurant overlooking the falls, After dinner we walked along the waterfront up to the horseshoe falls. Then headed to the Niagara Falls View Casino, where as we entered a tight rope walking was walking across between two hotels over 200ft up. I won like usual at the casino while Jill and Reece propped up the bar, then just before 10pm we went back down to the falls as the independence day fireworks display started at 10pm over the falls, the fireworks were fantastic, afterwards we walked back through the town to out hostel grabbing a Chinese takeout on route. Ate and went to sleep.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Horseshoe Falls

Myself outside Niagara Falls View Casino

Tight Rope Walker

Day 25 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Day 25 – 3rd July 2005 -5:00 GMT

Wandered to the northern part of the city and walked around the University district, then headed down to Queen Street West for a bit more window shopping, we then decided we would go to the waterfront and laze around on the grass and in the shade for a while. Headed back to Queen Street West for dinner and I had a mixture of Indian and Tibetan food, which was fantastic, then we went to a pub for a few beers and some games of pool.

Downtown Toronto

Toronto Waterfront

St Lawrence Market

Day 24 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Day 24 – 2nd July 2005 -5:00 GMT

Got up and watched the Wimbledon’s women’s final before heading across the road for a full breakfast then went into old town Toronto, visited the St. Lawrence market and then the farmers market, then walked along Front Street. Decided we would get out the sun for a bit and saw War of the Worlds at the Paramount Cinema.
We went for food in the pub at 7pm. Then crossed the road to the CN Tower, the lady in the kiosk said the queue would be 90 mins but if we bought express tickets it would only take 30 mins, so we each bought an express tickets as it was now almost 8.30pm and we wanted to see the sunset over Toronto, after 2 hours of a very hot and frustrating queue we finally got to the top of the CN tower, which is the tallest free standing structure in the world at 553m, by now we had missed the sunset as it was after 10:30pm, the view was stunning, We walked over the glass floor where you can look straight down on the world below then we went all the way to the top of the skypod which at 447m high the highest observation deck in the world. We got down at midnight and headed back to our hotel.

Downtown Toronto

Jill and I at top of CN Tower

View from top of CN Tower

Skypod in CN Tower

Day 23 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Day 23 – 1st July 2005 -5:00 GMT

It’s Canada Day and Toronto is heaving with people. Walked along Queen Street West which is where all the trendy shops are and passed a couple of parades then carried on down towards the waterfront and passed the Canadian Chinese getting prepared for their parade, they had lots of dragon costumes and displays. Then we walked along lakeshore Blvd, where they had lots of stalls selling different foods. We stopped at a restaurant called Gabby’s and had the best Fajita’s I have tasted. Then I walked through the cultural district and visited the Ontario Gallery of Art which was free due to it being Canada Day. Went back to the hotel for a couple of hours before heading out again to the Canadian National Tower (CN) but the very top was closed due to the wind, so we decided we would go tomorrow, so instead we found a pub on the waterfront and got a beer or two and sat outside to watch the fireworks due at 8pm. At 10:30pm after several beers and more food the fireworks finally started and lasted around 30 minutes.

Myself in Toronto

Downtown Toronto

The CN Tower

Jill and I in Gabby's

Ontario Gallery of Art (OGA)

Day 22 - Owen Sound - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Day 22 – 30th June 2005 -5:00 GMT Total Miles 7994

Left Owen Sound at 11am and drove towards Toronto, stopped at Orangeville and visited the local mall for some lunch, arrived in Toronto at around 2pm and after a bit of searching we found our hotel. The room was not ready yet so we found a bar across the road and had a cold beer, the temperature is stillin the mid 30’s. I got into my room just before 4pm and had a rest for an hour before heading into Toronto. Had a look around the Eaton Centre, which is a large mall and then settled at the Hard Rock Café for dinner. I decided I would spend the night in the hotel and relax watching TV.

Day 21 - Sault Ste. Marie - Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada

Day 21 – 29th June 2005 -5:00 GMT Total Miles 7874

Drove from Sault Sainte Marie to South Baymouth stopping at Blind River for lunch,
Also got stopped for 15 minutes due to an open Swing Bridge to cross onto Manitoulin Island. At South Baymouth we had a look around before catching the ferry across Lake Huron on a two hour crossing to Tobermory and then I drove for a further hour totalling a distance of 450km before finding a local Motel in Owen Sound and crashing out for the night.