Day 4: Oh, Canada

Started today in beautiful Ithaca, New York. First off, I received this postcard. It was from my travel associate. He handed it to me after breakfast. Meant to send it to me three years ago, but I think now is an appropriate enough time to get it.



We then went to visit the lovely campus of Cornell University, which was pretty slow on a Sunday morning. It was like we owned the town.



We took a spin by Roberts Lane ...



Were looked down upon by a dude in a chair ...



Visited the local Baker residential college franchise ...



And eventually ditched the campus to check out the Ithaca farmers market, a local institution in what my associate referred to as a rather "crunchy" town.



At the farmers market was some information about "green building," something I deal with a little bit at work. However, their idea of green building was making a house out of manure, an idea that probably wouldn't go over particularly well at the city, but who knows.



Of course, before we left we visited the gorgeous gorge ...



A few hours later we saw another nice little waterfall ...



We actually ended up spending some time in Niagara Falls because there were so many interesting things about it. First of all there was the interesting hair-related effects that occur when you stand close enough to it.



I also found there were some interesting differences between the USA and Canada sides of the falls. On the USA side, there was a fairly fun-down area with some tourist trap shops. On the Canada side is an elegantly landscaped park and a town with hotels and attractions suggesting a mini-Vegas. For the sake of unfair comparison, here are what were represented as "casinos" on the US and Canada sides.





The casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario was particularly interesting because it contained this rather redundant water feature:



And in good Canadian style, there was a social conscience there as well ...



The signage also made things fun. I got to see a road sign I don't believe I've seen before in the continental US ...



And the Canadians are always good for an understatement ...



Niagara Falls, New York does have at least one good thing going for it, namely this postal carrier:



And Niagara Falls, Ontario was a little frustrating, as we tried to find our way back to the car ...



Only to realize after several minutes that we weren't going anywhere at all ...



So after all that time in Niagara, some bottlenecks on the QEW, a long jaunt through the center of town, and the longest hotel check-in wait in history, we finally got settled in Toronto. Unfortunately most restaurants nearby were closing up. But like a beacon, just down the street, Fran's was there for us ...



The 24-hour diner had all that we needed. We even tried a pitcher of "Upper Canada Dark Ale," for which a sign on the table advertised that you could keep a free glass if you order the pitcher. After initially telling me they didn't have any glasses left, I was later informed that they found one -- the last one -- and it was presented to me. This catapults Fran's to my favorite place in Toronto so far.



So after a lot of beer, we've settled down happy in the hotel room, except of course for an hour or so worth of blogging (internet connection here is free, but you get what you pay for). And that's all from Toronto for today, but I've got more of the city to see tomorrow.