Nicole schreibt...

Toronto / Niagara Falls 2012

Sunday was mostly spent in the air, courtesy of American Airlines: From LAX to Chicago, from Chicago to a tiny airport called White Plains/Westchester County outside of New York City, with an array of private jets lined up on the tarmac that spoke volumes of the people who live in this area. Luckily my friend lived in a mostly down to earth and rather cheerful and green place called Mamaroneck by the seaside, where I would spend a full week mostly just working as I would at home. This is the village harbor where I spent quite a few hours enjoying the late summer sunshine while reading a good book after work.

Despite New York City being just a half hour train ride at $15 for a return ticket away, I went into Manhattan just once during this week to see the Disney musical "Newsies" with my friend. How different it felt to come into the noisy crowded heart of New York City from green tranquil suburbia! I strolled up and down Fifth Avenue for a bit of shopping, but spent most of the time just sitting in Bryant Park until it was time to meet my friend for dinner and the show.

On Saturday we picked up a rental car and went on a rather ambitious drive north across the state of New York - a good eight hours to Canada's biggest city Toronto just across the border at Lake Ontario. The real destination was famous Niagara Falls of course, but since I had never been to Canada, it made sense to include the city as well. Getting there in the evening we only had time for a wonderful meal at the lovely Queen Mother Cafe (highly recommended!) before an early night.

The big touristy thing to do in Toronto is going to the top of the CN Tower, the tallest building in the Western hemisphere (though frankly, just making your radio antennas a couple feet taller than others to win the "I got the biggest" contest is a bit lame). While the view on this clear sunny morning was excellent (with even a glimpse of the Buffalo skyline visible across the lake shore) I found the price of $29 pretty much a rip off just for going up to the observation deck and back down. Being the scaredy cat that I am, I couldn't get all that excited about the glass floor (letting you look directly down for 300 meters), let alone join the crazies who "walk" along the outer rim of the tower in the open air, attached only to a harness.

The view from the top (above) and a rather amusing reminder in the lobby that you're in Canada now. The pretty building below right is the old town hall of Toronto - wherever the British hung around they left tons of clock towers behind.

We followed the tour up the CN Tower with a long walk to the lovely historic Distillery District, which has been turned into an "artsy" area with galleries, exhibition spaces and funky little shops, as well as some lovely outdoor restaurants where we enjoyed a great lunch. In terms of eating out Toronto was definitely the highlight of my trip!

I also loved the many small green and very well-kept parks we came across everywhere in the city. Above is the Toronto Music Garden by the harbor and the park by St.James Church. From there we went separate ways, so my friend could enjoy a movie at the Toronto International Film Festival which was on its last weekend and I explored the Eaton Shopping Mall and surrounding streets like Dundas Square, sometimes called the Times Square of Toronto but far nicer and not half as crowded as the real thing in New York, where one could nicely linger with a coffee at a table and just watch city life go by.

Sadly since it was Sunday most of the fabulous underground city of Toronto (PATH) was closed and rather eerie, but it was still quite an amazing place to exist.

Next morning we drove to Niagara Falls - The second of the great North American natural wonders for me after Grand Canyon the week before, but two places that are impossible to compare. The Falls are definitely a thing of such beauty not even the rampant crass commercialism on either side, but especially in Canada's Clifton Hill circus area, could spoil it. I did however decide to just do one thing - the classic boat trip with the "Maid of the Mist" into the foaming mists of the Horseshoe Falls that got me soaking wet and were certainly a very unique event not to be missed.

This is as close as I got to the falls before I got too busy trying to stay somewhat dry to think about photos! The way back was lovely too - now we know why it's called Rainbow Bridge, right?

Since our Days Inn hotel turned out to be not the Canadian one we thought we had booked but the American one, we crossed the border again in the evening to sleep on the American side and went home to Mamaroneck next morning - another seven hour drive not helped by torrential downpours most of the time, some of which so strong it felt like driving through a car wash at 100 km/h. But eventually we made it home safely for another few days of chilling and working before the last weekend for me in New York City.

The last leg of what started to feel like a very long trip led from Mamaroneck via Manhattan to Coney Island, a place I had been curious about for a long time, not least since the Lord unleashed "Love never dies" onto musical fans worldwide which is set on Coney Island.
After a very long treck to just get there (not helped by stopping halfway in Brooklyn to queue for half-price Broadway tickets for the evening for ages and getting lost when trying to find a subway station) we finally made it to the seaside and a stunning gorgeous beach. But that's really all Coney Island got going for it- instead of the decaying splendour of a former glorious seaside resort (think Brighton Pier) it was basically just a big fairground (including the ancient stalwarts Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone) and a few junk food outlets. Naturally we stopped at Nathan's, that famous institution (with its questionable hot dog championship every Independence Day) and I re-acquainted myself with the Corn Dog which I had first eaten in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the 80s and never seen since. A greasy concoction only Americans can think up and which I will not revisit again. Urf.

Returning to Manhattan it was finally time to say goodbye to my wonderful host (thanks for bearing with me for so long Peter!) and take a break in my comfy (but even for Manhattan tiny) hotel room before going out to meet another friend and see "Evita" together. My last day was spent on the Broadway Flea Market to pick up some nice goodies before seeing "Porgy & Bess" on my own and a quiet evening in my hotel room. Overall three weeks felt a bit too long and like several trips rolled into one, but all the wonderful places I've seen certainly made it worth my while!