We left Hoboken in a fancy black town car and headed to Newark Airport in New Jersey. Interesting thought, the half hour plus ride in a fancy car with leather seats, uniformed driver with cap etc, costs us $35, and a cab from Perth airport to Kalamunda costs about $50.00??
New Jersey is very much a port and industrial city. Got to see the boys in the hood "shooting hoops" in the fenced off courts we so often see portrayed on TV programs.
A short 2 hour flight to Toronto Island Airport. The airport is on an Island with no land bridge. So you exit to the ferry landing and get ferried across to the mainland.
We were booked into the Grand Hotel in Toronto. John knows the manager so this was the deal. We booked into a $300 / night room discounted to $150. Does not end there. We were then upgraded to a 2 level Ambassador suite. The photo's will speak for themselves but it was something else. Kitchen, lounge, two bathrooms, one for me, one for John, but he had to mess both up. Bedroom upstairs overlooking massive windows with views to the city. It has a huge heated indoor pool and a spa up on the roof.
Spent the evening walking Toronto and the next morning, we had to leave to pick up a hire car at our departure airport - Pearson. Well when one resides in the Ambassador suite one cannot really ask the concierge how one gets a bus for transport. No, one must book a limousine to transport one from a posh hotel.
So we departed the Grand with the porters carrying our bags, down the carpeted steps to this long black limo. Driver steps out and opens the back door for Sir, Sir is so gobsmacked and mesmerised when he sees in big black letters "BMW" on the silver door sill, the expansive cabin with black leather seats, that he misses the step off the kerb and almost falls undignified as a crumpled heap into the back seat. Grand departure blown.
The driver, who happens to have left Ceylon when he was 20, went to Germany and then on to Canada, and now at the age of 47 owns a touring company and this big black 7 Series BMW
is very chatty. In between taking calls on his mobile and effectively running his business from his mobile office, as well as being berated by his wife, while we do 140kmh down the highway, he points out the significant buildings in the town. One of the buildings looks like gold and happens to be coated with 65 kg of pure gold. . He is so busy with his calls that instead of taking us to the car hire location he almost drops us off at the departure terminal. We asked him what he thought of Toronto, was it a good city to live in?. His response, quick as a flash "Any city you can make money, is a good city"
I put my life in my son's hands and we headed out to Niagra in a powerful Chevy Malibu. Time to pray hard. On the way down we stopped at a small town shopping mall for a break. Could not believe the cost of food, Great butter croissants for $1.99 a huge 180mm almond croissant for $2.50. We are definitely getting ripped of in sleepy Perth and dear old Kalamunda.
I expertly navigated my suicidal driver safely to the falls and the glimpses you get are overwhelming, even while driving to find parking.
The place is a mass of tourists surrounded by huge skyscraper hotels with the USA just across the river. The water flowing from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario literally races towards the falls with incredible speed. The Canadian falls are huge and curved with a massive clear drop that results in permanent rain on the closer viewing areas, from the spray. The other falls called the American falls are pretty straight and not as impressive. The view from the Canadian side of the wide expanse of the curved Canadian falls is much better than viewing from the American side. For the bold and unwashed (met a few of them on the plane and at the airport- cool weather does not mean don't shower people) their are boats that take you right up to the base of the Canadian falls for a quick shower. The whole complex is beautiful with treed parks for families to picnic.
The photos will provide a better insight than I can and hopefully we will be able to load the great videos also shot by the producer, executive producer, director, key grip, bus boy, camera man, my son John.
We left Ontario for a 4 hour flight to Calgary. We thought we had a problem as when we booked in almost 2 hours early we did not get seat numbers on our boarding passes, something we noticed only when we were at the gate. The flight was overbooked. Fortunately they changed to a bigger plane and we got lucky with being allocated exit row seats.
We were due to land at Calgary at 10:30 pm and I got the shock of my life when prior to landing we had to raise the window shades and this shaft of bright light entered the cabin. I did not realise that we were flying north as well as west. The sun only sets sometime past 10:30 pm.
Time to chill out and rest up before our next adventures
New Jersey is very much a port and industrial city. Got to see the boys in the hood "shooting hoops" in the fenced off courts we so often see portrayed on TV programs.
A short 2 hour flight to Toronto Island Airport. The airport is on an Island with no land bridge. So you exit to the ferry landing and get ferried across to the mainland.
We were booked into the Grand Hotel in Toronto. John knows the manager so this was the deal. We booked into a $300 / night room discounted to $150. Does not end there. We were then upgraded to a 2 level Ambassador suite. The photo's will speak for themselves but it was something else. Kitchen, lounge, two bathrooms, one for me, one for John, but he had to mess both up. Bedroom upstairs overlooking massive windows with views to the city. It has a huge heated indoor pool and a spa up on the roof.
Spent the evening walking Toronto and the next morning, we had to leave to pick up a hire car at our departure airport - Pearson. Well when one resides in the Ambassador suite one cannot really ask the concierge how one gets a bus for transport. No, one must book a limousine to transport one from a posh hotel.
So we departed the Grand with the porters carrying our bags, down the carpeted steps to this long black limo. Driver steps out and opens the back door for Sir, Sir is so gobsmacked and mesmerised when he sees in big black letters "BMW" on the silver door sill, the expansive cabin with black leather seats, that he misses the step off the kerb and almost falls undignified as a crumpled heap into the back seat. Grand departure blown.
The driver, who happens to have left Ceylon when he was 20, went to Germany and then on to Canada, and now at the age of 47 owns a touring company and this big black 7 Series BMW
is very chatty. In between taking calls on his mobile and effectively running his business from his mobile office, as well as being berated by his wife, while we do 140kmh down the highway, he points out the significant buildings in the town. One of the buildings looks like gold and happens to be coated with 65 kg of pure gold. . He is so busy with his calls that instead of taking us to the car hire location he almost drops us off at the departure terminal. We asked him what he thought of Toronto, was it a good city to live in?. His response, quick as a flash "Any city you can make money, is a good city"
I put my life in my son's hands and we headed out to Niagra in a powerful Chevy Malibu. Time to pray hard. On the way down we stopped at a small town shopping mall for a break. Could not believe the cost of food, Great butter croissants for $1.99 a huge 180mm almond croissant for $2.50. We are definitely getting ripped of in sleepy Perth and dear old Kalamunda.
I expertly navigated my suicidal driver safely to the falls and the glimpses you get are overwhelming, even while driving to find parking.
The place is a mass of tourists surrounded by huge skyscraper hotels with the USA just across the river. The water flowing from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario literally races towards the falls with incredible speed. The Canadian falls are huge and curved with a massive clear drop that results in permanent rain on the closer viewing areas, from the spray. The other falls called the American falls are pretty straight and not as impressive. The view from the Canadian side of the wide expanse of the curved Canadian falls is much better than viewing from the American side. For the bold and unwashed (met a few of them on the plane and at the airport- cool weather does not mean don't shower people) their are boats that take you right up to the base of the Canadian falls for a quick shower. The whole complex is beautiful with treed parks for families to picnic.
The photos will provide a better insight than I can and hopefully we will be able to load the great videos also shot by the producer, executive producer, director, key grip, bus boy, camera man, my son John.
We left Ontario for a 4 hour flight to Calgary. We thought we had a problem as when we booked in almost 2 hours early we did not get seat numbers on our boarding passes, something we noticed only when we were at the gate. The flight was overbooked. Fortunately they changed to a bigger plane and we got lucky with being allocated exit row seats.
We were due to land at Calgary at 10:30 pm and I got the shock of my life when prior to landing we had to raise the window shades and this shaft of bright light entered the cabin. I did not realise that we were flying north as well as west. The sun only sets sometime past 10:30 pm.
Time to chill out and rest up before our next adventures
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| John and the American falls |
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| John and Canadian falls. American falls are to his right |
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| The Canadian Falls |
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| People in boat below having a shower |
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| Water flowing towards the falls |
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| Great wide angle of Canadian falls |
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| Have to have evidence that you were there |
Movie time thanks to John
Short clip
Long 360 degrees
Another long clip
Good Bye Niagra
If you can indulge me while we show off please
THE GRAND
The Surrey in New York, the Grand in Toronto - time to get feet back on the ground. My bed is the couch in Calgary
If you can indulge me while we show off please
THE GRAND
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| The Gym - have to prioritise here |
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| We step out f the lift |
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| We gaze |
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| We walk down passage |
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| From the front door through the kitchen |
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| Through the lounge to the balcony |
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| Towards the entry |
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| The Kitchen |
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| The man at work |
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| Up the stairs |
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| The bedroom with mirrored bathroom door |
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| The bathroom |
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| The view from the bedroom |
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| The pool |
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| Time for a dip |
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