08 July - Friday - Calgary

G'day All,

A big sleep in this morning and then a casual tour of the local shopping in Calgary, well more like the biggest single level shopping mall in Alberta, not just Calgary, the CrossIron Mills Mall. The first tenant opened in 2009 while the rest of the mall was completed in 2012. That first tenant was a 'small' hunting, fishing and camping business, Bass Pro Shops (has 92 locations and turns over 4.23 Billion a year). The centre has about 206 tenants but by far the store that caught my attention was Bass Pro Shops, a multi level store where you can by just about everything from your babies first camo, ammo or bows and arrows.

Baby's First Camo?

One Round or Two?

Bow or Arrow anyone?

What caught my eye most though was not the range (and it is a huge range) of products but the layout of the store, it is like walking into a forest with more taxidermy animals than the eye can see from birds to moose, they also provide a taxidermy service.

Moose

Wolves

Squirrel

Wolf

Lynx

The highways are so different here compared to Australia, six plus lanes and more room for expansion. It just feels so spacious and safe (?). Samantha and Oliver live not far from the site of the Calgary ski jump facility (for the Eddie the Eagle fans).

Wide sweeping highways

Calgary Ski Jump Hill

Nice Neighbourhood

Visited Oliver's dad (Donald), a lovely man, and had a 5 star delicious meal with him that he prepared especially for us, he was an executive chef before he retired. Clam chowder with truffle oil, salt rubbed rib fillet with a selection of steamed vegetables and potatoes, followed by a fruit platter. YUM!

Still getting used to the late setting sun, still light at 10:30 pm, so not much more done for the rest of the day and it was an early night, meaning we went to bed for the first time while it was still light :-).

Cheers
Gary and Penny

07 July - Thursday - Toronto to Calgary

G'day All,

An early morning and a mad session of repacking before breakfast. The Niagara Air Bus shuttle was again used to transfer us back to Toronto where we checked in for the flight to Calgary. Surprised that there was no seat allocation and that the flight was over booked. We had also some how managed to gain some weight in the luggage with two of the bags just over the 23 kg limit but Air Canada were OK about it and let them through. Seating was all sorted at the gate with no problems at all.

View on approach to Calgary

The flight was a little bumpy some of the 4 hour flight but Penny survived :-) and it was great to see Oliver's smiling face waiting for us at the baggage claim. A 20 min ride to finally set the bags down and give Samantha a big hug after 18 months, a long Mum - Daughter hug was in order and a warm welcome from the two grand-fur-babies.

Maverick decided he likes Arya's new toy.

Arya enjoying her new toy.

There has been a long running banter between us and Samantha about the service provided by her bed and breakfast and it was fun to see the room made up like the best accommodation around.

Welcome to the Fox room at Samantha and Oliver's.

A quiet night with some sushi for tea and then an early night after bit of a catch up with the kids. A quiet day tomorrow as Samantha has work tomorrow.

For now sleep sleep sleep...

Cheers
Gary and Penny

06 July - Wednesday - Celebrating 30 years Niagara Falls

G'day All,
Today we celebrated 30 years of marriage with a Niagara winery tour which went from 10 am until 4:30 pm with a lunch in the middle. A quite day with a few samples in the belly meant for a relaxing afternoon. Met a nice couple from Columbus, Ohio, Tammy and Ralph, who we enjoyed the afternoon with before going our separate ways after the tour. Hopefully will keep in touch down the track, FB friends already :-)

Wine barrels of course!

Winery Buildings

We had pre-booked into the Watermark restaurant for our anniversary so it was a quick rest before we were having diner overlooking the falls. Great menu and service and the food was excellent. Headed to the room after diner to watch another fireworks show over the falls for the late cruise, something we missed out on last night as the fireworks are on every other day but at least we still got to see it from the great vantage point in our room.

Anniversary Fireworks

Early night tonight as we have to pack and head to the airport at 9 am in the morning to catch a flight to Calgary to spend time with Samantha and Oliver.

Not too much camera time today but I am sure there will be in the remaining days and weeks to come.

Cheers
Gary and Penny

05 July - Tuesday - Niagara Falls

G'day All,
This morning was a nice hot breakfast at the Hilton and an taxi out to catch a ride with Niagara Helicopters, over the falls. Taxi was a little over $17 but it is about a 5 km trip. Penny didn't come for the fly but was more than willing to wave me off :-). she's still not a big fan of flying... I had a ball and tee'd up with the operator to get the best seat for photography which turns out to be the high seat behind the pilot and I think I captured some great aerials. While the DSLR does great videos I really wanted some control over stills so opted to let the Panasonic FT6 do the video and mounted it on my DSLR to shoot a video throughout the flight.

Left to right - American Falls, the small Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls

And again - looking from south to north.

The Canon 1Dx with the Panasonic FT6 top mounted via a $2 eBay hot shoe threaded mount.

After the flight we decided to walk back the 5 km to the hotel along the Niagara river stopping along the way to some of the other oddities on the river. The first was the Whirlpool created over 4200 years ago whereby a collapse in the river escarpment created a 90 degree right hand turn in the river which meant a counter clockwise spinning of the water flow to get back on course. A this point there is also a cable car that run across the gorge over the whirlpool, we gave it a miss as we wanted to get back in time for rest before we were out again. A quick look in the reasonably priced Souvenir shop, another view of both falls and then back to the room.for lunch from subway. Arrived back in the hotel a little worse for wear as the temp was getting up to the 30's, but we got there and had a shower to cool off.

Whirlpool Cable Car

Had lunch and were back on task again with a Day / Night tour of the falls. This was hosted by a great young man by the name of Guy (French origin pronounced Ghee), who had a good sense of humour, a wealth of knowledge and a nice guy to boot.

This tour had a list of activities that went from 2:40 pm to 11 pm. Started with a quick history lesson and tour of the falls Niagara falls area, a trip up the river to the base of the Horseshoe falls on the Hornblower, A ride up to the top of the Skylon Tower, back to the Elements on the Falls Restaurant located near the brink overlooking Horseshoe Falls for a three course dinner,then off to another cruise up the river to see the falls lite up with coloured lights and finished off with a tour of the facility that lights the falls and changing the lighting ourselves for the world to see. A big afternoon and tired little tourists looking for bed... except for Mr photographer who wanted to get some better photos of the falls in their night time colours...

Behind Horseshoe Falls

On the Hornblower in front of Horseshoe Falls

American Falls under lights

Cheers
Gary and Penny

04 July, Monday - Toronto to Niagara Falls

G'day All,
Morning Update
I did a little late night photography at midnight and was surprised at how busy the streets were for a Sunday night, at least 50 people at any one time in the street and constant traffic.

Random Toronto Street

CN Tower - Supporting Pride Month

Another Random Toronto Street

Saying goodbye to Toronto today and heading for Niagara Falls. Did the obligatory last minute stuff the suitcases and headed out for one last lap around the block before checking out. Called into Tim Hortons for a "double double" which is a unique Canadian double cream, double sugar coffee that is about $2 but would be double (see what I did there lol) that in Australia. Think it is my new go to coffee at least while here in Canada. At check out we noticed a couple of soda's on the bill that we didn't consume and an extra internet fee but these were very quickly sorted and taken off the tab :-).
Turns out the mini bar has sensors in each position that automatically record removals and add to the bill. The reason for the billing was that we bought a small milk and took two cans out to put the milk in  and this was enough for the fridge to "think" we had taken the drinks...

Fairmont Royal York - Reception Area

Transfers are once again organised through Niagara Airbus, waiting for them to arrive at the moment so jumped on to do a quick blog update....

Afternoon update

Accommodation is the Hilton Niagara Falls and the view from the room is to the falls, we are spending the next three nights here celebrating our 30th anniversary on the 6th July, should also get to see the USA 4th of July celebrations across the falls tonight but will have to wait and see.

The Hilton Niagara - Our room on the shorter building facing the USA falls (not my photo)

All booked in after a slow traffic jammed run to Niagara, took 2 hrs 30 mins, the Hilton computers had gone down so they only had one open and the line was about 20 deep when we got there but all sorted after another 15 mins. We are in a room on the 31st floor facing the USA falls and the Skylon Tower, similar to the CN Tower but about 1/3 the height. Went and had a nice lunch at Applebee's washed down with a large sangria (Penny) and a Canadian 67 (lite beer for me).

Niagara Falls - Horeshoe Falls

Grabbed the camera and set off for a closer look at the falls before heading back to the room to settle down and prepare for watching the 4th July fireworks from the height and comfort of the room. Well the USA certainly knows how to put on a fireworks show and the view from the room couldn't have been any better. The falls all alight, the Skylon tower in colour and the fireworks in between.

4th July at Niagara Falls

Cheers
Gary and Penny

03 Jul 16 - Sunday - Toronto (Casa Loma & CN Tower)

G'day All,
Today was another sunny 28 C day in Toronto and we head off to the HOHO bus to get to Casa Loma a Gothic Revival style house and gardens in mid-town Toronto. No problems with the HOHO bus tickets today and we also purchased tickets to Casa Loma from bus operator as I couldn't get them online due to Australian credit cards not getting through their approval system. No worries as pricing was the same. The bus took about 25 mins to get there so we didn't arrive until about 10:30 due to the bus stops. The place was packed and the pre-purchase of tickets was a wise move as the line to buy tickets at the venue was about 50 deep, we just walked straight in. Casa Loma is now a museum and Toronto landmark and was built as a residence for financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt's wife from 1911 to 1914.
Even with its 98 rooms covering 64,700 square feet (6,011 m²) it was stuffy inside with hoards of people and the lack of cooling due to closed windows (safety reasons) but the gardens were cool and here was a nice breeze outside, the gelato helped as well :-).

Casa Loma - One of the main bedrooms

Casa Loma - Looking from the back

Casa Loma - Looking from atop one of the towers

We headed back to the bus stop to catch the next HOHO but it appears we are always out of luck as it was pulling out when we we about 25 m away, so it was another 20 mins wait for the next one. we headed back to the room for a freshen up and booked dinner in the revolving restaurant at the CN Tower. We were lucky to get the 5 pm booking as it was fully booked out until late the following night. Booking at the restaurant also gets you free access to the viewing platform and the glass bottom floor at the height of 324 metres. Took us a bit longer than normal to get to the tower as the Toronto Blue Jays had just finished their baseball game at the Rogers Centre next to the tower which meant we were against the flow of pedestrians all the way to the tower. Once there we went through security, yes security with metal detectors and guards with wands just like customs but obviously looking for nasty stuff to prevent it getting into the tower. Something we weren't expecting but simple enough process. Again the booking helped us jump the massive line ups and we pretty much went straight in to the elevator to get to the top. It took just under 1 min to go from ground floor to restaurant and there is a glass panel in the floor of the elevator too. It literally makes your ears pop going to that height at that speed. The restaurant rotates 360  degrees in about 72 mins which pretty well means it has done a complete revolution throughout the course of a meal. Considering Pen is afraid of heights she did well to look out from the rotating restaurant and afterwards at the viewing platform but I couldn't get her to stand on the glass viewing floor :-).

View over Toronto with Fairmont Hotel in middle

View out over Lake Ontario from CN Tower

Gary standing on the glass floor 342 meters up in the CN Tower

Last night in Toronto and we are off to Niagara Falls around midday, so time for a sleep in and lazy checkout before we leave.

Until tomorrow...

Cheers
Gary and Penny

02 July - Saturday - Toronto

G'day All,
The first leg of the travelling is done and the the tourism has officially commenced!
Had a great night's sleep on a very nice bed. Probably could have slept in a lot longer but we wanted to get to the St Lawrence Markets for breakfast and get on the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) 2 hr circuit bus ride to take in the sights and sounds Toronto has to offer. Initially we didn't see the signs along the street for the stop points but did see the bus pulled up and legged it to catch up, unfortunately all too slow as it sped off into the distance with us only metres behind. We back tracked and found a stop point and waited for the next one to arrive. We bough a 3 day HOHO bus pass as it is a great way to get around only to find out that they only do 2 day passes, so will need to let our friendly booking girl back home know about that one. To top it off when we went to exchange the voucher for tickets the HOHO girl said "take a seat and I'll bring them to you" after we did the majority of Toronto we jumped off the bus to take the included ferry trip around Lake Ontario and asked her for the tickets, only to be told that she had already given them to us...  A quick and polite exchange of words had it all sorted but for a moment we had no tickets at all.

 

 

A very broad range of buildings with a mix of old and new and sometimes new with old. From the HOHO we picked out where we would be heading tomorrow as today was all about working out what we would like to see tomorrow. So it'll be Casa Loma Castle and a close up tour of the CN Tower.

We weren't expecting to do the ferry ride until tomorrow however we took the opportunity as we jumped on the HOHO a bit late after spending the morning at St. Lawrence having breakfast. A good 45 min tour around the lake in a very full ferry was great to see the city from the water. Being a Saturday on a long weekend (Canada Day was Friday) in the peak season made the waterfront a busy busy place.

Took in a bit of sun by being on the top of the roofless double-decker and the ferry so we are a lovely shade of pink tonight but the sun doesn't have half the sting that Aussie sun does. We got back in around 4 pm and Pen had a little (5 hr) catch up sleep while I down loaded the 300 odd photos from the day (see above). A quick bite to eat and time to finish this blog and get to bed ready for an earlier start tomorrow.
P.S. still getting used to the 9:30 pm sunsets.


Cheers
Gary and Penny