Thursday, June 4, 2015

Eastern Canada Trip 2014 Day 10 Thursday June 19 Montreal to Toronto to Niagara Falls ON

UPDATED: February 11, 2021

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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