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WEEK 1
Toronto Time
Wednesday 22nd August 2001
Friday 24th August 2001
Saturday 25th August 2001
Tuesday 28th August 2001
Wednesday 5th September and
06/09/01 11:30am
Garrypatonvocals@hotmail.com
Tuesday 21st August 2001
Dundee Time...
4:30am
Got up...went to Glasgow airport. This was my first
flight alone and was actually my first time out of
the country on my own so I was very excited and a
bit nervous.
11:00am
My plane takes off for the 6 hour, 40 minute flight...
12:41pm
Touch Down in the big city and it's hot and sunny...
The flight was brilliant because of the service of
the Canadians - they are really friendly - there
was also 2 meals served which suits me fine!!
Arrive at the Niall Wycik Hostel to where I leave my
bags and go with 3 new people I just met.
We went for a walk to discover
the city - it was quite daunting at first but we
took to it fine and ended up having food at the
most original place - McDonalds!!
We did not stay out for long as we were very tired
after a long flight - I ended up being in bed for
9pm but I did not get a very good sleep probably
because of the excitement...
Got the feel for Downtown Toronto and got our
induction meeting from SWAP (Student Work Abroad
Programme)which was very handy and gave us lots of
hints and tips about getting about, finding work,
going on trips etc. It was quite a lot to take in
at once though especially still being jet-lagged.
I went to open a bank account
today which took about 2 hours and worked us in to
a thirst - so we decided to go with the rest of
the BUNACERS for a 'gathering' to a lively irish
pub called Mick E. Fynns - it proved to be a good
laugh and there and I predict there will be many
more of these to come !
Today I planned to go to the CN Tower - "The worlds
tallest building and free-standing structure". A
group of us all went about 1pm and enrolled for
'the total experience', which included:
A trip to the top where you can see
basically the vastness of the city in it's
streches for miles and because it was a clear day
I had an excellent view of everything;
Walk over the glass floor - this is really
smart and strange feeling - to be that high up and
be able to walk as though you are just suspended
in the sky!;
The skypod - which is the highest point of
the lookout, reaching the height of about 1400ft
above the ground - wow!
2 simulator rides which were pretty average
but still worth a look and came in with the
package anyway
A film on the construction of the tower
this was just a short film but was good enough to
watch just to see the building works
The price for this package was $29.99 (£13), and was
well worth it (other packages are available)...
After a day of relaxing and organising Niagara
Falls for the coming week and I decided to
end it in style by going out to one of Toronto's
many clubs - it was fantastic - great music, cool
lights, funky people and best of all it was open
until 7am - but as soon as we found out that they
had stopped selling drinks - we could go no
further and had to crawl home at 4:30am...
Sunday 26th August 2001
...was a very good night proven by the fact that we
are up late today and had to spend the day
sunbathing on the roof and doing laundry!
Monday 27th August 2001
Today we had to move hostels because of the fact
that the students come back and the hostel we are
living in was a student accomodation - and was
dirty...
We moved to the Canadiana Backpackers
hostel at 42 Widmer Street. We also walked along the
waterfront today and I got my haircut from this
really friendly woman (I have to say I went with the
bargain "great clips" for around $11 (£4))...
WEEK 2
THE NIAGARA FALLS TRIP
WOW WOW AND WOW...
I just want to say that this place is amazing!
We left Toronto at 9am on Tuesday and got to Niagara
about 12. A few friends and I checked into
a nice and clean place about 2 minutes walk from
the station and is 20 mins walk from 'the falls'.
It's called backpackers international hostel on
zimmerman street and cost just $20 a night
including breakfast and tax! Immediately we got
split up because of there man/women segregation
rules in the dorms - that was scary but we only
had to dump our bags so we saw each other 5 mins
later.
Anyway - we got set straight for the falls after
sun-lotion application and quickly putting on my shorts!!! the
weather is sooo amazing by the way! We were
walking along the road - when I looked at the
other side and said we should cross over because
it looked interesting. Of course it was it was
Niagara River - it runs down there just after the
falls - it is an amazing blue colour with white
rapids and took our breath away even before we got
to the falls. You can see the USA from here and
actually walk across - but there is a problem with
VISAS just now and we think we would be best
getting the train - this is us getting excited
about going to NYC.
So we walked down past the US bridge and came to
the 1st falls - The American falls -this sight was
our first and was very exciting. We walked down
to the Horseshoe falls - or the Canadian falls -
which is unexplainable - I took enough pix for
everyone to see. We had 2 great meals - one at
"Wendys" - of which I remember my cousin Jenny -
speaking about on her travels to the states! And
the next was at a family rest. - "the golden
griddle" where we had an all you can eat buffet
for $13.98 - amazing! - my eating has now def.
improved and is back to normal after having an
upset stomach for the last week due to the change
of lifestyle, I guess. After this we went to see the
illuminations off the falls at night - this is
just brilliant!
Wednesday 29th August 2001 and
Thursday 30th August
Today we started the tour thing - because
yesterday was mostly about looking around the shops
and getting my jumper of Niagara Falls! Tommorow
is about getting wet on the maid of the mist and
behind the falls - where we were guided around the
big sights and gardens, nature trails it was great
fun. We also went on a suspended car above the
whirlpools - that was fun!
Everything about the tour was great - it was a
double decker London, UK bus so that was fun too -
we did all the most exciting things the last day
and planned everything perfect so it was the trip
of a lifetime!
The tour was $41 and was worth every penny. The
train was $38 and was smooth and comfortable.
We got back to Toronto at 8pm and were too tired
to do anything else after an amazing week.
Saturday 1st September and
Sunday 2nd September 2001
Today we went out to a few bars along queen street -
which is the fashion district in DT Toronto - it
was good fun and we ended up in a really lively
nightclub called the G spot (yes I know what a name
for a club, but trust me it was decent!!)
which carried dance music in one room and R&B
in another.
The morning after - we just chilled out and then
walked about 2 hours to get to Cherry beach just
outside the dowtown area - this was really good
fun - it was really sunny and we watched the
airshow and boats across the islands.
I would not recommend going to this beach
as it is too far to walk and
not very clean.
Still a good day was had!
Monday 3rd September
The remaining few BUNACERS - of which the rest have
left us for different jobs or tours - went to the
skydome to watch the Toronto Blue Jays, baseball
team play the New York Yankees.
It was quite a long game but was fun to watch and
listen to the different things going on - the game
took 4 hours(ish. We only paid $7.50 for our seat
and had a great view of the field from the tall
heights of the stadium. The Yankees beat the Blue
Jays 7-5.
WEEK 3
Thursday 6th September
THE MONTREAL TRIP
05/09/01 8:15PM
Some of us went out for...er....
just a small drink - which turned into anything
but that,
we ended up staying out in a nightclub
in Toronto till about 4am when my friend and I were
meant to be getting an early night
for our 6am
train to Montreal. Instead we did without much sleep
and got on the train looking rather under the wheather
or still drunk!!!
We arrive in the hostel in Montreal - it is friendly,
but the showers arent that clean and are very small - it costs
$22 for
a night and breakfast is included - so it wasn't
that bad and was one of the best hostels in the area
- we were just comparing
it to our favourite hostel
Canadiana Backpackers in Toronto - which is
brilliant - even though it's a dollar more expensive and
breakfast is not included - you definately
get what you pay for.
So we went for a walk still quite tiredly
and in need of somke kind of thing called sleep!
IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS
OR ADDITIONS ABOUT ANY
EVENTS OR TOURS, HOSTELS OR FOOD
PLACES THAT YOU
HAVE VISITED THAT WERE
GREAT OR POOR AND WOULD
LIKE INCLUDED IN THIS GUIDE PLEASE
EMAIL ME @....
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