The thirteen members of our group met up with our guide Kyle pretty early on the 29th and set out in our minivan for Finger Lakes. We took what Kyle advertised as a 'hike' (actually about a 2km walk) to a "Waterfall" (actually a trickle - usually it's a lot more dramatic) called Taughannock. Later on, we swam in one of the Finger Lakes until we found ourselves being ever so slightly tangled up in huge amounts of seaweed.

We finished up at a winery, tasting 8 wines for $3, eating lovely fudge and listening to live country music.

We put up our tents for the first time at our campsite for the night and cooked chilli, the first of many (very successful...) campfire dinners.

First stop in Canada? It HAD to be Niagara Falls! We took a stroll along the boardwalk, snacking on kosher hot dogs (tastes just like the normal kind.....) and trying to figure out why our hair kept going static, sticking straight up in their air every so often for no apparent reason. Of course, we then took a Maid of the Mist boat ride into the Falls, which was spectacular. One of our group had been given a tip-off that the lower deck was better than the upper deck as it gave you a more dramatic perspective of the size of the falls: most tourists headed straight for the top and ended up packed in like sardines, so down below we luxuriated in our freedom to stroll around and see the falls from different parts of the boat. The bottom deck was much, much dryer, too!

Kosher hotdog!

After heading to Toronto, we set up camp at the Indian Line campsite, my team cooked pasta for the rest of the group and we settled in for a night of s'mores (our guide Kyle taught us the "proper" way to make them), and beer/wine/other. On a trip to the washrooms, we encountered an old man with a guitar who, on discovering that we were English, serenaded us with his special rendition of the Spice Girls.

We got a little worried later on when two members of campsite staff, Phil and Caroline, approached us...we thought we were making too much noise. Turned out, their truck had broken down and they needed our help to push it to the main road. We invited them to join us and they promised to return once their truck had been rescued. True to their word, they returned a couple of hours later in time to teach us the game '21'. Aren't Canadians nice, eh?

written by  lucy3119 on July 30, 2012 from Niagara Falls, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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We then headed for the CN Tower, a stark contrast considering it was packed with tourists and hour-long queues (although we did get to watch coverage of the Olympics - it was the gymnastics - while we waited). We were conned into buying more expensive tickets that included a trip to the very top level of the Tower, the Skydome, only to discover that you had to queue for a further two hours after the initial queues to get up there. We declined.

We took the standard glass floor photos and ventured outside onto the platform for aerial views of the city. We watched a storm approach ominously and experienced a strange effect in the elevator: it began to rain as we descended, but the rain looked just like snow floating gently in the air because it was keeping pace with us on its way down.

A thunderstorm hit and, not being prepared for torrential rain, we hung around the CN Tower for lunch. Eventually, we had to make a break for it and a small group of us ended up waterlogged and disillusioned in a nautical-themed pub by the harbour called Wallymagoo's, sipping delicious key-lime pie flavoured smoothies.

In the evening, once we'd dried off, we were taken to a hotel for dinner. It was nothing spectacular...until, that is, the evening's quiz was announced. Turned out we'd stumbled upon a Futurama convention involving a quiz dedicated to the cartoon and a viewing of three episodes. Four members of our group volunteered to represent us in the quiz (they scored 0.5 out of 30, in the end) while the rest of us escaped to a Mexican 'dive bar'. Most of the people there were probably on drugs, so of course we ordered milkshakes.

written by  lucy3119 on July 31, 2012 from Toronto, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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In an unexpected turn of events we were invited into the centre and introduced to some of the reptiles: we got to hold various snakes, lizards and tortoises, while a knowledgeable volunteer guide told us everything she knew about the creatures. We mentioned the tortoise floating in the bowl outside. She looked concerned and said she'd check it out.

We eventually made it to Algonquin and within minutes of arriving we spotted a crowd by the side of the road, pulled over and experienced our first Canadian animal encounter - a moose! We joined the other tourists crowding around the unconcerned animal, and were impressed by the size of it, expecially it's long, long legs! After this, we thought it would be funny, considering the size of our group, to form a crowd by the side of the road for no reason and see how many people stopped to see what all the fuss was about.

Moose!

Moose!

After setting up camp in a great forested campsite we took a short but absolutely beautiful hike to Beaver Lake, which only exists thanks to a dam created by a couple of beavers once upon a time.

Beaver Lake

Beavers at Beaver Lake

We had to bear-proof our camp before bed, which meant locking away any traces of food or toiletries in the trailer of our van. Most of our group were too afraid of bears to go to the bathroom during the night. I, on the other hand, forgot about the threat of bears and strolled casually to the outhouses without a care in the world.

written by  lucy3119 on August 1, 2012 from Algonquin Park, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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We also dropped into the park's visitor centre, complete with stuffed bears, creepy talking mannikins and a board for reporting animal sightings - according to it, a bear had been spotted in our campsite that morning. We suspected this may not have been a serious report, though, because the same person had also reported a "mosquito...on my arm".

Some of us finished the day with a 7km trek along the trail of an old railway line, followed by a BBQ and beer.

written by  lucy3119 on August 2, 2012 from Algonquin Park, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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Dinner in the dark

After the meal, somebody decided karaoke would be a good idea...we ended up at Pang Pang's, a true Chinese-style karaoke place with our own room. Such a hilarious night...

Streets of old Montreal

We were hit by torrential rain but decided to carry on sightseeing regardless; luckily, the sun soon came out and we wandered the very French and atmospheric streets of Montreal, eating ice cream and watching a street performer climb a ladder made of knives while offending passers-by. We also tried maple lemonade served in classic American red plastic cups.

Maple lemonade

In the evening we returned to our pirate restaurant, which turned out to be a great find - not only was the food fantastic, we also had a pirate musician playing sea shanties and Irish folk music on the fiddle and banjo (with audience participation) and posed in the stocks with our pirate host.

Piratical entertainment

Back to camping again in Quebec after two comparatively luxurious nights in a hostel. We arrived late afternoon in time for a ghost tour of the old town lead by a Liverpudlian girl dressed as a Victorian man. The highlight of the tour was being allowed into the Notre Dame cathedral at night, sitting on the pews in the dark listening to ghostly tales. It was lovely seeing Quebec all lit up, particularly the Chateau Frontenac on the hill.

Chateau Frontenac

Ghost tour

We began with a visit to the Citadelle to watch the changing of the guards, a 40-minute long process involving soldiers in English-style red uniforms, a marching band and a goat with golden horns.

We wandered around parliament, the Chateau Frontenac, and quirky streets complete with giant murals. On the search for some good poutine (a local dish of fries covered in gravy and cheese curds) we asked an off-duty local tour guide who led us to a restaurant apparently frequented by the locals. We weren't disappointed: despite not usually liking fries with cheese OR fries with gravy, I ate every bit of my delicious poutine.

Poutine

Poutine

Charlie and I, separated from the group, stumbled upon a glassware shop where you could watch live glass blowing, and then settled down at a cafe in a beautiful courtyard opposite the cathedral. We made bets on how long it would be before we spotted another member of our group and, sure enough, Ross soon wandered by and joined us for a drink. We wandered around a bit more, stopping to watch street musicians and artists.

Not very nice, eh?

Earlier in the day Charlie, Amanda and I had visited the Morrin Centre, an ex-jail that now houses a beautiful library. There, we met a man who referred to himself as 'The Ben' and informed us that if we returned at 5pm, we could join a tour that would give us the chance to be prisoners: "we WILL treat you like prisoners". How could we refuse?
We arrived for our tour and were forced to line up outside, in handcuffs, before being led to the 'medical room', where we were examined and given a 'tonic'. We then proceeded to the cells.

Charlie and 'The Ben'

Me and 'The Ben'

After the tour, we thought "when in France..." and went for crepes at a great little creperie.

The torrential rain caught up with us again just as we were headed to a a free Cirque du Soleil performance under an underpass. After much deliberation we decided to stick it out and I'm glad we did: despite a completely bizarre and disturbing concept the performers themselves were amazing, with their gravity- and death-defying acrobatics.

written by  lucy3119 on August 7, 2012 from Quebec, Canada
from the travel blog: Canada and a little USA 2012
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