This is the 10th of a series of posts dealing with
my fourth trip to Eastern Canada. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports.
Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of a year later or to
add further clarification. These are
indicated by “NOW”. After I booked the trip I unexpectedly had to move and was
staying at a friend’s place at the time of the trip, so I was already pretty
tired before the trip back.
People in and out of the hostel room
last night; luckily there was a large gap before the last ones trickled in just
before 4 am. Chatted briefly with a guy at the hostel before going to the
nearest McDonald's for breakfast. Learning the hard way that there you have to
put the cup to the very top of the dispenser or it sprays everywhere. Could
have made the earlier Megabus as it turns out but wouldn't have likely gotten a
window seat. Went for a short walk after leaving my stuff at the Megabus
terminal but got nervous about leaving my stuff for that long and soon
returned. Saw quite a bit of Montreal this trip anyway.
[NOW: The hostel was Auberge Bishop, now closed. The
above was written in the morning at the Megabus depot. The rest was written in
the evening.]
The Megabus was slowed at two spots en
route to Toronto: once in Quebec and once when arriving at Kingston, so no
getting off there. The bus finally got
to Toronto and I had lunch at a McDonald's near Yonge-Dundas Square. I dropped off some DVDs in luggage with Aidan
and visited Dundas Square, which had tents promoting something or other. I made
a second attempt (the previous one last year) at pointing out to the info booth
there that the electronic strip misspells Niagara.
[NOW: The booth when last seen was still
spelling it “Niagra”.]
I visited the fountain by City Hall before
walking to the waterfront and resting there most of the rest of my time in Toronto. A couple guys had on some sort of device that
sprayed water from their shoes, both were near motorboats that seemed to
control the action somewhat. Kind of hard to describe really.
[NOW: I’ve since learned that this is
flyboarding. The fountain was at Nathan Phillips Square.]
The bus to Niagara Falls was a
doubledecker. No reserved seating other than, as the driver pointed out, his
seat, so I got a top front seat by being there first. Unfortunately my new
camera quit on me so I had to switch to my emergency back-up camera. So I will
have to buy a third one tomorrow assuming I can find the right model. Getting
off at the bus depot at Niagara Falls I walked along the Olympic Torch Run
Legacy Trail to the top end of Clifton Hill, and to the hostel from there. They take cash only so will pay tomorrow.
[NOW: An earlier version of the camera I
was using started sparking just before my trip. The hostel I stayed at in
Niagara Falls was ACBB Hostel Niagara, now closed.]
They also have limited power so I have
to use a specific outlet and even then only at certain times of the day, so
even when the replacement camera is bought it's going to be hard not to run out
of battery power here. I walked along Clifton
Hill to the falls, which on the US side lighted up different colours as it
turned dark. Back on Clifton Hill bought
a strawberry Julius from DQ, checked out a few tourist shops, and after a
couple false starts and after buying donuts, managed to connect to the internet
here as the hostel also doesn't have internet.
[NOW: I did the trip reports at a Tim
Horton’s, the next day realizing I could do them outside the restaurant. I did
manage to keep a sufficient number of batteries charged despite the hostel’s blackout
period, if memory serves 8 pm to 8 am.]
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