August 23, 2025

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

While last night was the first meeting of our tour director, Tyler, today is truly the first day if the Cosmos tour. I got up and made my way to Tim Horton’s where I got a cappuccino and a egg, sausage and cheese sandwich for both of us. Then I returned to the hotel and got a coffee in the Bistro downstairs. We were downstairs loading on to the bus at 07:45.

The route through town approximated the Hop-On Hop-Off bus, without going to the St. Lawrence and distillery markets. We hope on the 403 and headed towards Hamilton along the Lake Ontario. IN Hamilton the 403 heads west and we headed east to our destination Niagara Falls along the Queen Elizabeth Highway.

We drove around Niagara Falls for a bit before heading to a nice little park just off of Niagara Falls Parkway and Clinton Avenue. We got off the bus and crossed the street over to where the Niagara City Boat Cruise was to start. Lots of touristy places along the way.

We boarded the boat and headed into the mist of Horseshoe falls. Everyone was so excited to the rained on the by the mist of the waterfalls. It is beautiful and there is a great deal of water going over the falls every few seconds. 700,000 gallons every second to be precise. There was more than enough to spare the gallon or so of mist sprayed on us. We managed to get a spot at the front of the upper deck of the ship so we could get extra wet. They were nice enough to give us disposable red rain ponchos to keep some of the wet out.

After the boat ride we headed up to the Skylon Tower, Niagara’s most iconic restaurant, observatory and tourist attraction. It was a quick walk from the bus though the tourist shop to the elevator which quickly took us up to have lunch in the Summit Suite Buffet dinning room 775 feet about the falls. There were great panoramic views of Niagara Falls and you definitely got a better appreciation for the scope of the falls from this vantage point. Lunch wasn’t half bad either.

Lunch as a Buffett as advertised. The selection of foods was actually very good. Several different salads, fruits, sliced beef, some seafood dishes, a couple pasta dishes, and desserts. We were fortunate enough to get seats right next to the window looking out over horseshoe falls.

After lunch it was back down the elevator to the gift shops. ON to the bus and back to the park off Clinton Avenue. We made a beeline for the Hard Rock Café, not for the food bus to get Miss Grace a tea shirt from here. We scored two t-shirts for Miss Grave and a pull over shirt for me.

On the way back we stopped at the Starbucks in the Hilton Hotel. It is a huge Starbucks and there were lots of people both behind the counter and waiting. The amazing part was the people behind the counter didn’t have a clue and were mostly just talking to themselves. I asked for my tea to be double cupped, as I always do. They said there was an additional charge for the second cup. Ok, how much? They wanted my to get back in line, which probably had twenty people in it, to purchase the second cup.That wasn’t going to happen so I just walked up the the register and asked how much for the second cup? She told me it wait in the line. I said no. Put a quarter on the counter and grabbed a second cup. They didn’t do or say anything.

Sat there in the Starbucks for a few minutes and then headed back to the bus. The place has a coney Island vibe to it. Lots of flashing lights, 1960’s graphics, and lots of shops filled the tourist stuff. Then it was back on the bus for the ride back to Toronto. There was, both coming and going, a lot of traffic. We were obviously traveling at peak commute times, but it could have been LA or San Francisco.

Back a the hotel we decided to try the street food of Toronto. So, in a little lot just off  of Yonge and Gould Streets there are a group of semi-permanent food trucks and shacks. We went to an Indian Food vendor and got chicken curry and another dish. The place was packed with people, getting food and sitting at picnic benches to eat.

How they ate that stuff is unknown. Neither of our dishes was very good. I suspect it was more authentic Indian food than Americanized Indian food. We ate enough to take care of what appetite we had, and dumped the rest in the trash.

After dinner we walked over to the Eaton Center, a very large indoor mall on Yonge Street and one the places Trip Advisor says you should visit. It is a huge mall with lost of shops and explains why so many of the near buy buildings are boarded up or vacant. I spotted a sign for a Baskin Robbin’s so we headed there. Despite following the path way on the signs and stopping one or twice to confirm the directions, it still took nearly a half hour to find it. The place is that large.

Scoring our ice cream we walk back through several levels of the mall in the direction of the hotel. We exited the same entrance we can came in, but how we did that I am not completely sure. It was then back to the hotel and pack and get ready for the train ride which begins in the morning.

Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico e Maria.