Summer Trip to Toronto, Canada 2006

Today we departed towards Toronto from central NY, the weather wasn't so good, raining hard, but this will brings us something good later :)

Carefully driving brought us to our lunch destination

 Anchor Bar in Buffalo, famous for its buffalo wings, of course.

They offer wings in sauces of different levels of spiciness. We reached a consent and ordered medium.

Comes with the bowls to put leftovers in.

I love my wings with lots of blue cheese!!

Btw we exchanged some canadian dollars at our local bank.

It makes you really feel like going to a totally different country with different currency( it is different country ) despite the fact that its only hours drive away...

There were lots of cars lined up at the border and we finally got passed it.

Two flags!!

The Canadian Side of Niagara Falls took a while to reach, because the whole area is surrounded by resorts, golf course, gardens and hotels!! Such a big area.

The parking area is really big, try to pay attention to parking spots close to the observation deck when you are driving.

So, there are several lines for different tours to see the falls, but we didn't feel like going that day. We went straight to the falls.

Isn't it nice. Here is the good part of coming on a rainy day.

The water flow is superb!! How beautiful can a waterfall get?

The logo umbrella reminds us we are in canada...

oh I forgot to mention...there is also lots of casinos around...next time...I will try to book a hotel here so we can stay longer for the night view and casinos ^_^

In the evening we arrived Toronto and headed towards the landmark, CN tower.

viewing from the bottom...definitely very tall tower...

when we were waiting we saw these shiny buildings near the tower...interesting...if anyone can name them please tell me...

When we went up it was day, we took a very quick elevator to the first level and saw this view...

also a bit of the sunset...

then we took another elevator to the second higher level in "bars"...doesn't seem like a better view...

we went down to a lower level to see another view from the top...very scary height to look down on...

many kids were playing on this level and taking pictures.

a diagram of all the tall buildings in the world, Taipei 101 is listed as 4th.

after sunset, we saw the wonderful night view of the city of toronto.

Today for lunch we went to the smaller chinatown north of toronto.

We ate at the mall, Metrosquare. There were lots of taiwanese food, tea leaves, magazines and books to buy here. The food were pretty authentic too.

We had chicken leg rice and fried pork rice. Both were delicious.

Then we headed back to toronto for some shopping and street browsing.

Everywhere we drove we can see CN tower of different views. It was like  a theme there.

The streets were like a big city with lots of varieties of stores, but not as dirty/old/crowded looking as New York City. They also seem to have a rail tram for public transportation.

Before we went into Eaton Center, the big mall, there was an artist drawing street art with chalk. Then at another place we saw another artpiece from the series. Very skillful!

This is the view inside Eaton center. It's filled with stores and many different from the US. We bought some clothes at Roots.

After shopping, we bought a subway day ticket to see some places around toronto.

This is Greektown. Didn't seem as intersting as I thought it would be.

We ate a Astoria Shick Kebob House there.

The weather was nice and we got to sit outside. The atmosphere is nice. I do feel like I'm in Greece.:p

It was still a bit chilly under the sun.

YUM~~

Then we toured University of Toronto.

It was a nice, easy campus. Not a lot of students on Sunday (of course...)

And again we saw the CN tower.                      

At night we enjoyed the pool at Courtyard by Marriott, Missisagua.

I think it's a reasonably priced hotel to stay at in Toronto. Takes about 10-20 minutes to downtown by car.

Consider bidding on priceline they have nice offers on these hotels.

In the morning we departed Toronto and entered the US. This time, at 10-11 am on a Monday morning, there were almost no cars at the border.

We stopped at the Tax Rebate Center to get tax refund that turns into the store credit so you will have to buy something at the shop with the credit. Or, I think it can be cashed for a fee...

All over canada ( the places we visited ) we can see the moose and maple products so that was our souvenir.

After we arrived Ithaca, we went for a walk in Taughanock Falls. If you come after 5pm, the parking is free. So, the walk in the woods is free.

Really nice and beautiful walk filled with clean air.