Saturday
What a magnificent 6 days :) We were tense on the
plane as we had been significantly delayed in Washington, and we had
messaged Kathy and Doug on facebook but otherwise we had no way of
letting them know that we were going to be late. When we arrived at
Buffalo airport we couldn't see them but fortunately we had Kathy's
mobile and we were able to call her. Serendipitously, they thought we
were arriving tomorrow but they had checked facebook and in the dash
to the airport they arrived about 60 seconds after we had collected
our bags, meaning that they weren't stuck waiting for us and we
weren't waiting for them.
A huge thank you to Kathy and Doug for welcoming
us into their beautiful home. We were made to feel like a part of the
family and it was a wonderful and magical Christmas that we were able
to spend with all of you.
So we arrived the day before Christmas eve where
we were introduced to Scamp (their beautiful puppy), Shannon and
Steve, who were also staying, and we had a wonderful evening of
sharing stories and meeting people, as well as sampling some Canadian
fare at the famous Bugsy's. A lovely start to our time in Canada.
Sunday
Kathy made a magnificent breakfast of waffles with
maple syrup (of course!) and we then began a day of pre-Christmas fun
and relaxation. It was snowing quite heavily, so we were thrilled
that we would indeed be having a white Christmas. We spent the day
snacking on nuts n' bolts, an amazing mix of nuts, cereal, pretzels
and chips baked in the oven, whilst watching the snow and getting to
know everyone. We were joined by Kristen and Marty in the evening for
dinner and had a lovely time reminiscing about Andrew's time spent
here as a child. Due to the wonders of time travel we rang our
parents in the evening to wish them Merry Christmas on their
Christmas morning. We eventually got to bed in the early hours of
the next morning.
Christmas day!
What a brilliant Christmas. The day began with
crust-less quiche, home-made cinnamon scrolls and fresh fruit. This was
followed by opening presents, during which we were extremely spoiled
and received gifts of Canadian themed mittens, towels, clothing, cups
and some very special syrup, as well as some lovely speciality beers!
Feeling spoiled and very full we went for a walk in the snow with
Scamp, accompanied by Shannon, Steve, Breanne, Kristen and Marty. We
encountered some Canadian geese and saw Lake Ontario in its
semi-frozen state. It was freezing but very beautiful.
We made our way back home for our Christmas
dinner. We spent some time getting everything ready, elongating the
table, making everything perfect, and then dinner began after our
already large group was joined by Kathy's parents, Jan and Al, and
their friends Kevin and Pat. With thirteen people ready for dinner we
sat down to the magnificent feast that Kathy put together. Turkey,
vegetables, mashed potato, squash, gravy, cranberry sauce and rolls
comprised our dinner, followed by pumpkin and apple pies with cream
for dessert, then some lovely home made truffles from Breanne for
afters, as well as slices and biscuits as well. We were so stuffed
full of the amazing food and wiled away the last of Christmas with
some port and drinks until the early hours. A truly wonderful white
Christmas.
Boxing day
A huge thank you to Shannon, Steve, Kristen and
Marty for enabling us to have a brilliant day in Toronto. Steve and
Shannon offered to give us a lift into Toronto to visit with Kristen
and Marty who kindly offered to show us around the city. We piled
into the truck and headed North to Toronto where we were shown around
this beautiful city. We had a drink at Kristen and Marty's lovely
apartment in a beautiful part of the city before heading to the
Kensington markets, a very bohemian/hipster part of the city with
some excellent shops and great street art. We all stopped for
Jamaican meat patties (think a meat pasty) and then we headed to
Rotate this, a record store where Andrew, Marty and Steve were left
to their own devices as Kristen, Shannon and I explored some of the
other boutique stores. After returning to the store and assessing the
damage (Rush, Queens of the Stone Age and MC5) we decided to get
poutin, a Canadian delicacy.
The first place we went to was closed so we went
to another lovely fish and chip shop (not like the ones at home)
where we had local beer and meals and we were able to sample the
poutin. This chip, cheese curd and gravy combo was pretty amazing
(though I only had a bite as I don't like gravy) and I can see why
it's popular in this place of ridiculous cold! We then headed back to
the apartment and said goodbye to Shannon and Steve, who were on
their way to visit other relatives, and then we continued to explore
the local area. We wandered down to the local castle and marvelled at
the amazing architecture, as well as the astonishing icicles that had
formed on the trees and railings as the temperature dropped. Fairy
lights and icicle adorned trees and homes now make perfect sense. We
went back to Kristen and Marty's to warm up before heading towards
Union Station to catch the train back to Burlington where we would be
picked up. Again, thank you to Kristen and Marty for being excellent
guides for our brilliant day in Toronto. We found Kathy and Doug at
the station (after some time as we'd gone to the wrong exit) and went
back home to thaw out after our excellent day.
Friday
Today was about Butterflies. Breanne joined Kathy,
Doug and us on an excursion to the botanic gardens to visit the
Butterfly house, so we drove up into the snow covered mountains,
stopping at he monument to Brock (a Canadian hero) before making our
way to the exhibit. On the way we saw some of the very picturesque
homes and buildings in Niagra, as well as the lovely place where
Kathy and Doug were married. We made our way into the butterfly house
after leaving our coats and spent just over an hour taking many
photos of the beautiful butterflies and flowers in the garden. One of
the huge blue morpha's took a liking to Andrew and sat on his
shoulder for most of our time in the garden. It was quite surreal
looking outside of the glasshouse to snow covered and dormant gardens
whilst being in a tropical and humid climate.
After leaving the butterflies we then drove to see
the whirlpool, a 90 degree point of the Niagra river where the water
plunges over one mile down beneath the surface of the water in a
powerful whirlpool at the corner bend before continuing over the
falls further downstream. Amazing. We drove back past the phenomenal
falls themselves and up through the town before dropping Breanne at
work and heading home for a lovely roast for tea. The pot roast was
yet another tribute to Kathy's exceptional culinary skills, and
afterwards we made our way to Bill and Sharon's lovely new house in
Niagra wine country for drinks and a catch up. We enjoyed some
delicious ice wine and admired their huge tree and lovely dog Maya,
as well as being treated to a look at Bill's most prized possession,
a metallic cherry red 1980's Corvette. We didn't stay too late and
headed home for a last cup of tea and another excellent day in Canada
was ended with drinks and conversation into the late evening.
Saturday
Today was all about the falls. Kristen and Marty
once again offered to be our unofficial tour guides and came and took
us out for our day of touring the spectacular Niagra falls. Kathy
sent us off after an excellent breakfast of french toast, eggs and
maple syrup and we drove back into Niagra falls to see them close up.
They are truly breathtaking and it was an awesome experience to stand
a metre away from the edge and watch the millions of tonnes of water
hurtling over the precipice to plunging depths below. As we walked
along the path every few steps offered a stunning new vista that no
picture will be able to capture fully. We took our time admiring both
the horseshoe and American falls from many angles, marvelling at the
beauty and roar of these incredible natural monument to the power of
nature. We then decided to take the journey behind the falls, so we
went down into the tunnels carved into the rock behind the falls
where there were various portals and lookouts from which you could
see the rushing wall of water and hear the thunderous roar even
through the thousands of tonnes of rock. It was phenomenal.
Following our up close look at the falls we
thought it would be fun to go on the skywheel and see what the views
were like. We sampled some Tim Horton's (a Canadian coffee and
doughnut place) and then went on the huge Ferris wheel, which had
air-conditioned glass gondolas which offered the best views yet of
both the American and Horseshoe falls. We went around 5 times and
once we got off the light was fading and we decided it was the
perfect end to a day in Niagra. On our walk back to the car we were
able to admire some of the light displays in the park and a friendly
black squirrel came over to say hello (which I was very excited
about). We made a short stop at the Levi's outlet, though we figured
we'd wait until Vegas, before Kristen and Marty dropped us back home.
Again, a huge thank you to both of you for the magnificent day out!
In celebration of Kathy and Doug's 28 year
anniversary and our last night we went out to dinner at a really
delicious Thai restaurant where we feasted on Pud Thai, cashew nut
chicken, green curry chicken and basil beef, plus a selection of
entree's and drinks. It was a delightful evening and a really
wonderful final night in Canada. Both of us went to bed that night
knowing that we would miss Kathy, Doug, their wonderful home and
fabulous family for quite some time. As ever, if any of you find
yourselves down under, just say the word and you'll be set up in
Adelaide any time. Thank you for making our Canadian experience so
magnificent.
