Toronto (sat, sun, mon)

We made it to Toronto! And its freezing!! It was sitting on about minus 12 when we arived and was so dark but only about 6 pm. So all we did was grab some dinner and warm up before heading to bed. We are at the gloabl villiage backpackers, which is quite nice, dispite the hike up the stairs. We have a room to ourselves, which includes Stephs younger sister, Alice. We met up in the Toronto airport and she will be with us untill we leave New Brusnwick.

On sunday we managed to have a walk about town. We visited the CN Tower, which is apparently the tallest building, but i doubt it considering Dubai is breaking every record atm! You get to wlak out over this glass floor though, which is pretty awesome. We then stayed warm by walking around the shops! And then caught the underground to the Royal Ontario Museum. It was huge, we were mesmerised! We didnt get to see it all and we rushed some parts, it was so extensive. They had this amazing geology section, It was stunning. It also included a jewellery display aswell (mostly from the same lady) which included all these amazing vintage peices from Cartier, Bvlgari, Harry Winston etc. So increadible!

On Monday we headed out to Niagara Falls (over an hours bus ride away) with a tour group. It was impressive and the view was lovely, however it would have been nice to be able to ride the 'maid of the mist'. We couldnt because the river was mostly frozen on top, even with the fall still flowing! The mist creates rainbows over the river and the falls themselves are breathtaking up close, but it was too cold to stand around looking at them for very long. The next stop on our tour was Niagara on the Lake, which was this special little town which had tried to preserve its old character. Its situated where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, hence the name. All the buldings are old and there are no fast food places or neon signs at all. Instead (like all tourist destinations) you will find quiant coffee shops, fudge and lolly shops and authentic souvenir shops. It was such a pretty little town with the snow falling! Our next stop was wine tasting, i didnt even realise it was included in our tour! Best suprise ever! They took us to a winery called 20Bees, also home of the Dan Akroyd wine (who knew!). Apperntly he has a very good taste for wine. 2OBees also makes Canadas famour style of wine: Icewine. The grapes are picked when frozen, which contain far less juice but is more concertrated. The amount used for one bottle of icewine is equivelant to 30 normal bottles! The result is a very sweet desert wine, which we got to sample. The tour was great, with a funny guide and good stops. It was also great to get out and see the Canadian countryside!

Love E, S and A
xxx