Canada, eh!

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.