Toronto and Niagara Falls
Two weeks ago (sorry for the late post) I went on the trip of a lifetime thanks to STS and my amazing parents. One of STS Canada’s annual trips is to Toronto and Niagara Falls, and I was very lucky to be able to join it! Be prepared for a long blog post.
The three exchange students from Miami, Manitoba - Fabian, Charlotte, and Julie - came to stay at my house the night before so they wouldn’t have to drive to Winnipeg in the early morning. We stayed up a bit too late for people planning to wake up at 3.15am.
In the dark, we arrived at the airport, thanks to the wonderful Patty who got up and drove us. We had some Tim’s before heading through security and on to Toronto! It took a long time for us to find our way out of the airport to the bus stop (we must have asked at least a dozen people for help), but we finally found our way to the hotel using the subway system.
Since we couldn’t check in until 3pm we left our bags behind the desk and went out to explore for a couple of hours. The four of us ended up in the World Pride district, which is a prominent gay community and had a very vibrant feel, with a lot more colour and life than other parts of the city we’d walked through. We also found a botanical garden centre and park and playground (which we played on).
Back at the hotel we finally were able to get into our rooms, and I soon met one of my roommates, Josefine, from Germany, and also her friend Cathalijne (Cathy) from the Netherlands. We quickly became friends and decided to go out into the city. We found ourselves (along with Charlotte and an Austrian girl named Alex) in a huge plaza in the heart of Toronto where we watched a rather unimpressive street stunt performer and found a big mall. That night the entire group of 40 or so exchange students ate out at Korean Grill, and Josie and I finally identified our other roommate, Rebecca from Sweden. After dinner Josie, Alex, Cathy and I walk back to the mall and saw some great magicians outside.
Up and out at 9am, we all caught a school bus to Wonderland and it was so cool to hear so many accents and languages - there were students from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands and me from New Zealand. It was exciting to be around so many people with the same interests as me and everyone had so much to share about their exchanges and their home countries, I had soon made some more friends - Alejandro from Spain, Esther from the Netherlands, and Simon from Switzerland.
Before this I had never been to a real theme park and never been on a really thrilling roller-coaster or ride, so I was a bit apprehensive, however after the first ride I was excited and ready to see what the rest of the park had to offer. The Leviathan is the tallest roller-coaster in Canada (according to Alejandro) and has a ridiculously high, almost vertical drop. I didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t the most enjoyable ride of the day, I can say that much. Still, I’m glad I did it. (Below: Leviathan)
Whilst I did skip a couple of rides, I think I did pretty well for my first theme park, I even went on the Behemoth twice, which was almost as thrilling as Leviathan. Here’s a photo of a bunch of us, with Behemoth in the background.
From the left - Esther, Alex, Cathy, me, Jo, Simon, Charlotte, Julie, Alejandro, Sarah and Fabian is on the ground.
This was my favourite day of the whole trip! The weather was just right and I spent the day with some awesome people! Later that evening we went to the plaza again and while we were taking a photo for some girls around our age we started talking to them and they then showed us some really good places to eat nearby! Rebecca, Josefine and I stayed up way too late talking that night, considering we had to be up at 8am the next morning.
This was the day we saw Toronto! We started off with a walking tour near Chinatown, where the guide showed us some of the amazing legal graffiti in the area, and taught us a whole bunch of stuff about Toronto’s culture.
Then he led us to Kensington Markets which has a huge variety of cultures, vintage shops, and a great cafe called Rasta Pasta which was a combination of Italian and Jamaican cuisine and very delicious!
It was awfully hot while we walked to the CN Tower, but with aching feet I managed to make it there on time, without getting lost in Chinatown.
The views from the tower are incredible.
And I also sat on the glass floor which looks directly down onto the street below!
^ Jo, Rebecca and I on the glass floor.
That evening we went on a smooth boat tour around Toronto Island, where we also ate pizza, and danced on the deck while the sun set. When we returned to the city at dusk, a large group of us walked to the cinema to see Pitch Perfect 2, which was very entertaining, after which we dashed to catch the train back to the hotel.
Finally came the day out at Niagara Falls, which is the day I’d been most anticipating! It began with the impressive feat of getting 40 teenagers out of bed before 8am on a Sunday, followed by a very quiet bus ride as everyone fell back to sleep! We first stopped at a butterfly conservatory and walked around while the butterflies landed on our shoulders and arms.
As soon as we stepped off the bus in Niagara the sound of the Falls was apparent, and there they were ahead of us, so spectacular and unbelievably huge. It was amazing to see them up close, and be able to feel the spray from the rushing water.
I went on the Maid in the Mist boat ride with Simon, Fabian, Alex, Jo, Cathy, Rebecca, Deborah, Esther, and Alejandro (see below) and this was my favourite part, as we went right up to the falls and there was spray everywhere.
For lunch we went to IHOP, which was delicious and filling, and then we walked through the main street of Niagara, which is very busy and has a lot of tourist attractions.
We headed to the Journey Behind the Falls entrance for our final activity of the day. We were able to walk through tunnels that go under the falls and stand behind them and right next to them, which was very cool (and very wet).
After this we hopped on our bus back to Toronto and had a short stop in at the hotel before going to our final dinner as a group at the Brownstone restaurant. It was a lovely way to end the trip (and my butternut squash ravioli was exquisite), with everyone coming together to talk and I realised what good friends I had made in such a short time. It was our last night and I don’t think anyone wanted it to end, so we talked and played games in one of the hotel rooms until the early hours of the morning.
After only a few hours of sleep, Rebecca, Jo and I woke up to bid Rebecca farewell. Soon after was the departure of the Manitoba group, as Fabian, Julie, Charlotte and I flew back to a cold and snowy (in May!?) Winnipeg.
