Day Five - Toronto / Niagara

Jo is pissed off with me because my face has gone brown in yesterday’s sun. Ha ha ha!

We had breakfast downstairs in the hotel cafe this morning, as we were in a hurry because we had to pack and be out of the room by 10:30. The debacle that was breakfast: We seated ourselves and the waitress took our order - two cooked Canadian breakfasts with toast, one tea, one coffee and two large orange juices. Nothing too difficult there, we thought. Jo's coffee duly arrived and I waited patiently for my tea. The cooked breakfasts then appeared, and Jo's empty coffee cup was replenished. Still no tea though. Or juices. As the waitress passed by, I mentioned our deficiency. She apologised and rushed off. 5 minutes later there was still no sign. A different waiter then approached our table and asked if all was okay. I explained: tea and juices - we ain’t got none. He rushed off and promptly appeared with a pot of tea for me. A minute later, the waitress came and filled my cup from another teapot. "There you go,” she said, “Sorry about that sir.” She hadn’t noticed the large teapot sitting on the table and I didn’t mention it. I expressed concern that we had nearly finished our breakfasts and still had seen no sign of any juice. She apologised again and disappeared into the kitchen. 2 minutes later the waiter appeared and placed 2 large juices on the table, along with a large bunch of apologies. 30 seconds passed and the waitress appeared again and placed 2 more large juices on the table! We now had enough tea and juice for four people! We bloody well drank it all though!!

Breakfast over, we packed and sat in the lobby and waited for the Niagara Airbus to collect us. And we waited. And we waited. The bus eventually arrived an hour late. As it drove down the freeway or highway or whatever it is called here, we looked back and could see Toronto fading into the distance; the CN Tower piercing the clear blue sky in stark contrast to the day we had arrived, when we hadn't been able to see it at all because of the fog.

Ninety minutes later we arrived at our hotel in Niagara: The Brock Plaza. And what a hotel! 1920's opulence combined with all the modern day amenities: swimming pool; cable TV; shops and a room with twin double beds affording a fantastic view of the falls! I’ll admit to being somewhat worried about the hotel when we originally booked. The brochure had shown plenty of fantastic modern-looking hotels; The Sheraton; The Marriott; The Radisson; all great big towers of glass and metal. The Brock was rather old and dowdy in comparison, but inside…! And you got a proper door key to boot, not one of those plastic credit card jobbies.

Our room wasn't quite ready so we left our bags with the bellboy (who was called Al and must have been approaching retirement) and went exploring. How different from Toronto; this was like a mini Las Vegas: fun fair rides; wax works museums; more “haunted houses" than Transylvania; casinos, etc. We grabbed a bite to eat in Burger King (I wanted to eat somewhere, just once, where I didn't have to tip somebody!) and collected some leaflets detailing the available tours. As we meandered our way around in the warm sunshine, Jo decided to get a couple of cans from one of the many coke machines dotted along the sidewalks. Somehow or other she managed to get her hand stuck in the machine as she tried to get the cans out. I couldn't help but laugh at her Homer Simpson-esque position: crouched down with one hand in the machine. For some reason, she didn't find it as funny as I did though.

We made our way back to the hotel, up to the room, tipped Al the bellboy and then decided to make use of the hotel pool and relax for a bit. The pool was on the 3rd floor, and was just big enough to swim comfortably in. Some hotels boast a pool, but three strokes and you are at the other end. The highlight of the pool deck however, for us, was the hot-tub/Jacuzzi, and when we were finally alone in there, Jo and I got down to some naughtiness! If only she could hold her breath for longer! Back upstairs, we showered and changed for dinner, having not yet made up our minds where to go. In the end we decided to see if we could get in at the Skylon Tower, which was a bit like a small CN Tower overlooking the falls. The revolving restaurant offered á la carte cuisine and a guaranteed view of the falls, but there was a wait of over an hour and a half to get in! We opted for the buffet diner, which was only a wait of ten minutes but couldn't guarantee a good view, you just sat wherever a vacant table appeared, and not necessarily next to a window. When the waiter took us to our table however, we couldn't have asked for a better one: table for two; non-smoking; by the window; perfect view of the falls. Just how lucky were we?

The food was good and plentiful and as night fell, floodlights lighted the Falls. All quite pretty. The meal came to well over a hundred bucks - which is by far the most I have ever paid for a buffet! - but it was well worth it. Afterwards, we went up to the observation tower above the restaurant, which afforded a 360-degree view. Spectacular. And yet.... as awe-inspiring a scene as it was, I felt somewhat disconcerted. Here I was looking at one of nature’s greatest spectacles – thousands of years in the making – and man had decided to make it better by playing multicoloured lights across it!Or maybe I’d just had too much to drink and was getting pernickety in my old age. We headed back to the hotel. It was now quite late, and so we had a quick nightcap in the bar and went to bed for rumpy and sleep.