Glimpse of Canada

Week One of The Roadtrip

We spent last week in Canada, starting in Niagara Falls. Many people warned us that the city is a big, kitschy amusement park, borderline tourist trap, built around the falls. And they were right… but still, the falls themselves did not disappoint! They are amazing – especially up close, the Maid of the Mist brings you right to the falls making it a very spectacular and rather wet experience.

Next, Toronto. We underestimated how big this city is (I blame it on the map, it was very deceiving)… we walked the entire time, probably almost half a marathon during the two days we were there (I am not exaggerating this time!). The city is very modern, a lot of high rise buildings, a nice waterfront area with beautiful parks. We also walked through the older parts of Toronto such as Cabbagetown and Yorkville but I have to be honest, Toronto didn’t impress us that much (although that may be because (a) we had really high expectations and (b) we were so tired of walking everywhere that we were no longer able to digest all the sights).

A brief stop in Ottawa allowed us just enough time to see the historic center. Parliament Hill could have easily been imported from London (in a way, it was… Wikipedia it). We were there during Tulip Festival but of course, with our luck (remember the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC?), the tulips were already gone. The city center was really beautiful, and to our relief, rather small compared to Toronto.

We ended our one week tour of Canada in Montréal, which really won us over. In the beginning, I was a bit confused. We were supposed to be in Canada but it was 30+ ° Celsius, people spoke French (although with a funny accent) and the city felt a lot like Brussels… We wandered around the streets of Vieux Montréal, had a “baguette aux rillettes” (which made Ward really, really happy), visited the Notre Dame, strolled along the boardwalk/quai, ending up in the shopping street (very similar to Brussels’ Rue Neuve)  … yep, it all felt very familiar and European. The next day, we saw a different, more modern side of Montréal, the botanical garden and the old Olympic stadium (with the former velodrôme turned into a Biodôme or zoo) and Ile Sainte-Hélène where the expo of 1967 was held. The votes are unanimous, out of the 3 cities we visited in Canada, we definitely liked Montréal best!