Canada

We noticed the sign ‘Drink Canada Dry’ and weren’t at first sure whether it was an advertisement or a challenge.  Whatever, after tearful goodbyes we took the short flight from Milwaukee to Toronto to be met by Annika, Ivy and Bill.  I’d better explain; Terry came to us in the UK when he was a young lad attending school close by to where we used to live.  I knew his mum Ivy from Hong Kong days when she made all the arrangements for the training courses I ran in those days.  To cut a long story short, Terry spent quite a bit of time with us over the years and sort of got incorporated into the family and became ‘another one of the kids’.  Bill?  He’s Ivy’s partner.

Terry and Annika were married about a year and a half ago.  Their first twelve months was difficult for them.  Terry lived and worked in Toronto,  Annika was in Hong Kong waiting for the necessary immigration approvals.  Happily they are together at last.  We wanted to see them and that was the main reason for the visit to Canada.  Whew!  Sorry about that but an explanation was probably necessary.

First day and Annika demonstrated just how much she had learned about her new home, guiding us through what are known as ‘the paths’ – a complex series of underground walkways linking tower blocks and shopping malls.  These provide the opportunity to move around the city avoiding what can be brutal winter weather above ground.  Fortunately Annika knew the way and we followed.  We did get above ground, visiting Yonge-Dundas Square and the nearby beautiful old town hall with its extraordinary carvings.

Of course a meeting is not complete without a meal and that night we dined royally, and although a little rusty with our chopsticks, enjoyed a terrific meal with a menu specially created by Ivy.

Toronto is probably not the first place one would think of to have a shoe museum, but it does have one, and it’s fascinating.  Including everything from the earliest foot coverings through modern day high fashion to the special needs of people living in the Arctic, it even includes shoes that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe, James Stewart and Winston Churchill.  But it was the intricate workmanship and practicality of the Inuit boots that fascinated above all else.

No visit to Toronto is complete without ascending the CN Tower and experiencing the Niagara Falls.  We did both.  The view from the top of the Tower is far reaching and spectacular.  The view straight down through the glass floor is just scary!

Niagara is simply captivating.  There’s something about moving water that is mesmerising and Niagara has more moving water than anywhere else.  There’s three waterfalls,  the largest being the Horseshoe Falls,  The American Falls abut the USA border while the Bridal Veil Falls are by comparison quite small.  We saw the falls at their most spectacular, winter thawing provided huge amounts of water, estimated at around six million cubic feet a minute.  I can’t really visualise that but it’s a heck of a lot of water that creates its own clouds.

A final dim sum meal and all too soon our visit came to an end.

The Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt was long and cramped, the food awful.  We arrived late with insufficient time to make the connection for the onward flight to Heathrow.  But we finally made it, picked up a hire car and endured the delights of the M25 to Essex.  It rained, sleeted and at times snowed.  Welcome to England we were informed.