MONTREAL
Surprisingly good flight from
Zurich but had a bit of trouble with jet lag, four days later & we are
still awake long before dawn but that will slowly improve I hope.
 |
| Snow is just so pretty, it is hard not to photograph it at every corner |
The intense cold came as a bit of
a shock as we left the warmth of the airport terminal to board the shuttle bus
to the city centre. It took your breath away but once inside the bus it did
improve. The bus dropped us at the main central railway station which is also a
Metro stop & we took the Metro to our hotel. We only had a short walk, one
& a half blocks to our apartment but it was getting dark by then & the
paths were icy so it was a slow & steady walk.
 |
| The island parkland, no paths or gardens, just snow a foot deep |
Next day after a stop at the
tourist information office we went for a metro trip to Jean-Drapeau Island in
the centre of the St Lawrence River to see the view from the lookout point
& to visit the Ice Village. There was an ice-skating track round the
lookout area so it was a very difficult walk to the viewing platform but it was
worth it, very nice!
 |
| View of the city skyline from the island |
The next day we visited Notre
Dame Cathedral & the square surrounded by historic buildings. We kept
walking until we got to the old dock area & quays. Needless to say there
were no boats as the water was completely frozen over, in fact there was an ice
skating rink in one of the areas.
 |
| The marina? |
Getting round in the snowy
conditions was difficult. Even if the distance wasn't far it is too cold &
too slippery to be walking unnecessarily so we had to resort to catching the
metro from place to place, just popping our head above ground when we needed to
walk to a museum or church or something. There were lots of shopping arcades
& walkways underground (even more in Toronto which was still to come) which really meant that if
the weather was truly appalling you could virtually live underground in the
centre of the city.
 |
| So cold at the lookout, thank goodness the bus came every 30 minutes |
Next day we took the Metro &
bus to the lookout point on the top of Parc Mont Royal, boy was it cold there,
minus 23C so we didn't hang around long. We took our photos, watched the snow
ploughs clear the car park & road then caught the next bus back to the
station but it was a fine day so we decided to risk a bit of walking down one
of the main shopping & housing streets, just as far as the next Metro stop.
 |
| Cute homes & the infamous steps to the front doors, treacherous! |
Next stop was the History &
Archeological Museum. We knew there was an English tour at 2pm so we planned
our arrival to suit & it was well worth it. There was only a small group
& we were the only non-locals, we found it fascinating, learning about the
native americans, then the French & English development & battles, finally
more recent events like big fires & plagues.
It was only a few hours train travel to our next stop.....
TORONTO
We only had a few days in Toronto but the weather was much kinder to us &
we were really able to see & do a lot. Our first stop after a walk through
the city from Union Station, was CN Tower, the tallest tower in the world. It
may not have been perfect viewing conditions but it was definitely worth the
cost of the journey to the top. The views were wonderful, we could see all the downtown part of the city
& quite some distance out onto the lake with its islands.
 |
| CN Tower |
 |
| One window of the 360 degree views from the top |
From here we walked to the city
hall, there is a free self-guided tour you can do which explains the
architectural & design accents, the art works & the plans for the
future development of the area. This proved to be a really enjoyable wander
round this lovely modern building. It was built in the 1960s but was ahead of
its time & is still considered ultra-modern with its spaceship design. Out
the front there is a large fountain area which is frozen over to form an
ice-skating rink during the winter months, the sound of dance music filled the
forecourt of City Hall.
 |
| City Hall, a spaceship with twin towers |
 |
| The old city hall |
We enjoyed the amazing labyrinth
that forms the PATH underground system & Eaton Centre. You could virtually
live underground in Toronto, there are 28 kilometres of walkways, shops, food
courts & businesses that can be negotiated without surfacing at all.
Unusual & surprisingly disorientating, we often had no idea where we were,
had to come up a couple of times to get our bearings.
 |
| Purpose built museum for shoes |
'Who'd-a-thought-it' I went to
the Bata Shoe Museum (fortunately Grant wanted to go to a Fire Station & I
was able to enjoy it in peace). It was fascinating, there were replicas of
ancient shoes like those found on 'iceman' & 'bog bodies' through the
ancient Greeks, Romans & Egyptians to modern day.
 |
Purpose built shoes, for crushing chestnuts - believe it or not!
Looks more like surreal art doesn't it? |
 |
| Needs no explanation |
They had a temporary display with
shoes of famous people - Marilyn Monroe's red stiletoes, Justin Beiber's
joggers, Elvis Presley's two-tone shoes, John Lennon's grey elastic-sided
boots......& the list goes on. My personal favourites Bjorn Borg's tennis
shoes, I always thought he was the best tennis player ever!
Can you believe they have four floors in a specially designed building just for
shoes? Naturally, as you might expect, Bata are a local company.
NIAGARA FALLS
 |
| A close-up shot of America Falls |
Pristine & so beautiful, it
was absolutely wonderful. We walked along the parkland area which had a fresh
dusting of snow & stopped to admire the American Falls before continuing to
the Horseshoe Falls. The mist which rose up from the crashing waters fell to
earth as frozen rain creating interesting formations on the lamps &
railings. This isn't really snow but it's close enough for us!
 |
| Horseshoe Falls, these are receding at a rate of 3 metres every 10 years |
 |
A close-up that shows the icicles etc.
In summer you can walk behind the falls
at this spot |
When we stood near the railing at
the top of the horseshoe falls the power of the water was 'scary', it surged
over the edge with such force it took your breath away.
 |
| Frozen beauty |
The only part we didn't like was
the tacky touristy township, but since we weren't staying for more than the one
day it didn't bother us. We had some nice lunch at a restaurant, picked up a
few souveniers & caught the bus back to the railway station to go back to Toronto.
That finishes our time in Canada for the moment, hopefully will be returning another day, maybe in the warmer weather
though......
