Toronto & Niagara Falls, Canada by Kev

3.12.2025. It's different country day!! Bags have been packed, food has been used or chucked and we're ready to go. We're out the front of the building trying to flag down a taxi. We're having no luck, so Mel organised an uber. Picked up and we're off. Yay we're going to Canada! At the airport, we had the usual issues. The kiosks that are supposed to help speed things up and allow the airport to employ less people, didn't work. After 2 internal errors, we only had 1 bag tag and 2 of our 8 boarding passes. So naturally, we had to seek assistance from an actual person. This also seemed incredibly slow. They probably have to train people again since all the auto machines are shit. Right we're through, another stamp in the passport and security is behind us. The time came, and went, sort of. It took ages for boarding. In the first 10-15mins, I reckon about that many people got on the plane. Once everyone was on and we actually took off, we were 45mins late. We have a little over an hour to make our next flight in Bogota, so we'll need to let it. Unless the plane makes up time in the air of course. It didn't, we landed 45-50mins late. Mel had spoken to an attendant and had mentioned our connection. He moved us further ahead in the plane, so we could get off sooner. He also said that, yeah you'll make your next flight no worries. A guy spoke up behind us in the aisle. Asked if we had a connection to Toronto at 4:15. Yep we do. Nah, ya don't. He’d just gotten an email saying his next flight had been rebooked for the same time tomorrow. Mel checked their phone, yep we have that email. We still had time, maybe we could make it. We took off towards connecting flights with our new friend Darren, a British bloke who now lives in Canada. We hit a hurdle at security. Our bags got pulled aside for inspection. Mel and Darren headed to the gate to see what could be done, while the kids and I played “guess what you're losing today” with a grumpy looking security lady. We lost our last bottle of insect repellent, no great loss and she had to empty our water bottles. Quick, grab all our crap and let's go. We hurried towards the gate, knowing full well we were running a losing race. We met Mel half way and walked back towards the gate. I was seething, I've never missed a flight yet. Avianca has made the “no fly” list. All we had to do now was line up and reorganise things. The two guys behind the counter have the best job in the airport, no stress, probably a fair and equitable wage, and a long line of smiling people who need to have an international flight reorganised. Long story short, sorta, we have the same flight just for tomorrow. They are shuttling us to a paid hotel, with dinner, breakfast and lunch included, then shuttling us back again. It's probably gonna be the shittest hotel in the history of hotels. All we have to do now is go back past security to immigration, get a stamp so we can enter Columbia and get going. We got dropped at a pretty decent looking hotel. We went in and went up to our room. It's big enough for all of us and is pretty comfy. We'd agreed to meet up with Darren for dinner, so we got ready and went upstairs. There were a few options on the menu, one of which was a vegetarian option for Mel. The food was really good, better than anything we'd get on a plane. Mel and the kids went to bed while I stayed for a few beers and a chat. In the morning we went down for breakfast, then back up so we could catch up on blogging. Mel wanted to explore Bogota, but we didn't have enough time. We had lunch later and then headed back to the airport. Just so you know, it's the 4th now. Its a multi day blog again. We arrived back at the airport, and since we didn't have to check in or get boarding passes or anything, we had time to spare. We had some bloody expensive coffee's, then sat at the gate. We almost boarded on time and only took off slightly late. I got sat next to an old bloke from Canada and his missus for the flight. He enjoyed a good chat, and I got some info on Canada. Finally, we landed. We're in our next, and last country. Which seems surreal. After travelling for so long, it seems weird that it is coming to an end. We disembarked and went in search of our baggage. First thing though, jeez it's cold. That's just the tunnel thing between the plane and building, not the actual outside. Next stop, immigration control. Oh great, lots of automated machines, here we go again. Scanned the passports, made declarations and got a print out. That's it? It worked and that's it? That can't be it! We walked over to a guy near an exit and handed him the paper. He gave it a glance, asked a few quick questions and struck a mark on the paper with a pen. “Welcome to Canada” he says. What the hell, where am I? I seem to have fallen into another dimension where everything not only works but is actually really easy. Mel said “we don't get a stamp”? If you want one go see that guy over there, he says as he points at a booth. Which we did. Not gonna come all this way not to get a bloody stamp. The guy asked the same questions, gave us a stamp and said welcome to Canada again. That's it, we're in. Holy crap, how easy was that? Next stop, go and get the bags. They'd not been lost along the way thankfully, and we immediately got some clothes out. Here we said goodbye to Darren, he'd gotten his bag before us and was pretty keen to get going. We'd had a hotel booked in Toronto for the night before and were going to do that again, but our friend we're staying with said just come over. So that's what we did. We arrived, put the kids in bed, had a chat and went to bed ourselves.
5.12.2025. Our first proper day in Canada. We had breakfast with our hosts and caught up some more. We went and grabbed some food from the supermarket and a bottle of wine to share. We wanted Canadian wine, but there wasn't a lot of choice. It also only came in 1.5lt bottles. Oh alright then. We headed back and got a little more organised. Triin and Rodrigo had put off putting up and decorating their tree so the kids could help. It was very kind and the kids really enjoyed it. The kids had their first proper play in the snow and snowball fight. More adventures tomorrow.
6.12.2025. Rodrigo took off early today to pick up a rental car. Today we're headed for Niagara Falls. We had a stop at Tim Hortons, a massive chain shop here that sells coffee and everything sweet. For the next two hours we were on the road, headed for our destination. We arrived and parked. Once we had put on all our warm clothes, some bigger jackets were thankfully donated to us by Triin, we headed off. Still cold, Mel and I bought beanies. These made a difference. We walked along the river and up to the falls. Impressive, but not as big as I thought they would be. There was a boat down in the mist of the falls, full of people who wanted to get a closer look. I was asked if I wanted to do that. Nope, I can see it pretty good from here! The kids' shoes were a little wet from playing in the snow and they were getting cold. Triin took them inside a shop to dry them under the blower in the toilets, while Mel and I looked for thicker socks in the shop. Once everything was dry and warm again, we went back out until it. We stopped at a restaurant for a late lunch, then afterwards visited “Ripley's believe it or not”. Lots of interesting things in here, both to look at and to read. Another stop at a fudge shop, then back to the car for the return journey.
7.12.2025. We had a slow start again as last night was a late finish. After lunchtime we walked over to Pioneer Village. A themed period place showing how they used to live. We visited the Tin Smith and leather workshop. Then the school and finally had a visit with Santa. All the people here are very knowledgeable and incredibly nice. It was a great visit, but there isn't enough time to see it all properly. After another day out in the cold, everyone's feet were cold again, so afterwards we went to a cheap shop to get our own gear. A singlet and an extra shirt isn't gonna cut it when you're talking minus degrees. We got sorted out with a mix and match variety of clothes. I may not be colour coordinated but at least I'm warm, ish. Now we all have good boots, so no more cold feet.
8.12.2025. Heading out today with Triin. Rodrigo has to work so he'll miss all the fun. We're catching the tram then the underground into the city. We're all very happy to have our own warm clothes, especially some warm boots. First stop today is the aquarium. Most of the previously stated warm clothes were removed, and henceforth carried around by yours truly. We have been to some pretty cool aquarium's on our travels, and this one didn't disappoint. We saw everything, it even had a reptile section. There's a few tunnels through a huge tank and some Goliath gropers in their own part. It is well worth the visit. Next stop was for food as both kids were fading fast. Onto the next attraction, the CN Tower. Standing at 553m, it was the world's tallest free standing structure from 1976 until 2007. While it has a rotating restaurant and various other tourist stuff, it was originally built to provide reliable television and radio signals to Toronto. We stayed up in the tower until sunset, which is just after 5pm here, so not that long really. We took the elevator back down and wandered back out into the cold. Afterwards we headed back to Train's, where Rodrigo had been busy making Ceviche. He's Chilean, and Ceviche is one of their main dishes. Prawn, onions, vinegar, lemon, coriander and lots of tomato. It was bloody fantastic!
9.12.2025. Today is castle day. To be more specific, Canada's only castle, apparently. Paid for by one Sir Henry Pallet. Lots of money and rock, turned into 98 rooms and an underground tunnel to the stable/greenhouse. Apparently he argued with the government of the time, wanting to close the noisy road near the castle and be able to just walk to his stables. They said no, so he had a tunnel built under the road. Ah, the things you can do when you have money. The castle looks relatively new, not surprisingly, at 100 years old, it's still wearing a diaper. There was an aerial show with a lady displaying her acrobatics. A movie downstairs about the original owners, and the tunnel, which was the best bit. The tunnel has been decorated all Christmassy. There's TVs showing elves working, with Santa behind. Animatronic reindeer and singing and playing instruments. It leads into a garage with some vintage cars, and, the best bit. Santa! He's back there with a few helpful elves. You can pay for a printed picture, or they're happy for you to just take your own pics. Kids had a long chat with the old bloke, Andrew especially. He had a long list of what he wants this year. A phone or/and a trebuchet, yeah right! There's even a cafe here. We grabbed something quick and cheapish, then moved on. Once we were outside, we saw it was snowing. The kids, with their new “Canada” appropriate clothing, had a play and made snow angels. Our next destination for the day is to meet Rodrigo and Triin at a sushi restaurant that they like. We rode the underground and got off at a station close to the restaurant. When I say close, I mean Canada close. They have as much land as we do in Aus, so it was a 40min walk. By the time we got there the kids were cold and tired and annoying and over it and sooky and testing me and almost got chucked into traffic. We walked further in India, and that was 45°c. All was forgotten once we arrived at the restaurant. A sushi buffet, all you can eat for $40. I was full, Emma made herself sick, Andrew actually had a belly and Mel was the best behaved of us all. I really like pickled seaweed, and almost ate a kelp forrest myself. Throw in a couple of beers and I am done. When I heard buffet sushi, I thought, don't get your hopes up, it'll probably be crap. It was quite good. Once we were all done, we made our way back and went straight to bed.
10.12.2025. The temperature was perfect this morning. Perfect for what I hear you ask? Perfect for snowmen of course. The kids and Triin made one each. Then Andrew karate kicked his into oblivion. Our main visit for the day is the ROM, Royal Ontario Museum. A massive museum, absolutely chocker block with interesting stuff. We talked to an old fella downstairs, Gary, who gave us some info. He showed us some dinosaur bones and we all touched a lump of meteorite that was older than the earth itself. What a start to a visit! There were rooms full of dinosaur bones. What blew my mind was the skeleton of an ancient land sloth. It was the size of a LandCruiser. There was a fascinating room full of information about where we came from, well where all life on earth came from. The last room we visited was ancient Egypt, because Andrew wanted to see it. We could have days wandering around, but we were limited as we had another place to go. So regrettably, we left the museum. Our next place for entertainment is the Christmas markets in the distillery district. It's a bit far so we hopped back on the underground for a few stations. Thankfully tonight is free entry, which seems ridiculous considering you are coming here to spend money. Why not fleece you for some more, it seems to be the Canadian way. The place was set up nicely, though I think it is run completely by one company. A pub right in the middle of the whole show. When I checked the bank accounts later I saw all the money went to the same place, even though we bought from a few different places. Except of course, for some hot sauce I bought. I went in just for a look around, but after I saw there was free tasting, I thought why not. I tried a few of their sauces, which gradually got hotter and hotter, finishing with one that had Carolina reapers and ghost peppers in it. After that I went in search of something to cool off with. A beer was bought and Mel got something with cream on top and spices. We enjoyed having a look around. The wind was picking up and even with all my new gear, I was getting cold. We hit a few more shops, more food stuff than anything else, then walked back to the underground and headed back. It was a long, but good day.
11.12.2025. The kids stayed with Triin and Rodrigo, while Mel and I went and picked up our rental car. We had planned on driving to Montreal after picking it up, but had decided to leave tomorrow morning. We got back and said goodbye to Triin, she was leaving for Europe that evening so we wouldn't see her again. We packed our bags for tomorrow and I made dinner. A long drive tomorrow, so off to bed.
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