This is our friend Jane who we met on a cycling trip in Vietnam last year. She lives in Toronto so we were happy when she wanted to meet us for dinner.
We had a great time catching up with her while we ate a tasty Indian dinner together. Jane brought us a map of Toronto and had tons of suggestions for things to do and places to eat.
Toronto is the fourth largest city in North America. The downtown is larger than this photo shows.
The CN tower is over 1,800 feet tall, and it's a landmark in Toronto.
We walked around to look at specific buildings. This is the new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) by Frank Gehry, which is controversial because it is so modern and doesn't match the original. We learned that Frank Gehry was born in Toronto.
There's lots of new architecture in Toronto, but there are some wonderful old buildings too. This is the old City Hall that was completed in 1899.
And this is the new City Hall. The large plaza in front of it includes a fountain that becomes an ice rink in winter.
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) was open late and was free when we walked by, so we checked it out.
This piece called Stretched by Evan Perry caught our attention. We read that the sculptor is making a statement about how modern life can push and pull us to an extreme level.
The interior of AGO's new five story tower is named Galleria Italia and has beautiful arching beams that reminded us of a ship's hull. It was also designed by Frank Gehry.
There were also incredible sculptural staircases in the new tower.
Here's the tower addition shown from the outside - it's the blue cube in the photo below. The white and black rectangle building to the right was the original Art Gallery of Ontario space.
We love being in a city with lots of ethnic diversity. Our best meal was at a Korean restaurant named Arisu. Closest to Kristina is a seafood pancake, next are small dishes of tasty salads called banchaan, then spicy octopus with noodles.
The restaurant is located in Koreatown.
Nearby was Chinatown, which was interesting to walk around.
We have a penchant for unusual museums, so we visited the Bata Shoe Museum.
One day we explored the botanical gardens.
There are many different gardens, including a kitchen garden with this bee house. We learned that 90% of bees are solitary and make their homes in tunnels or holes in trees.
We wanted to hike further so we explored some of the ravines of Toronto. We saw cyclists and walkers like us enjoying the paths by streams.
Our final meal in Toronto was at Linda Modern Thai, a place Jane had recommended to us. The decor reminded us of great times in Thailand last year.
And the pork jowl lettuce rolls were a treat.
As we drove from Toronto back to the US we stopped to check out Niagara Falls.
At a height of 188 feet and a width of about 2,600 feet, the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian border were loud!
Our dear friends Paul and Julie spent part of their honeymoon at Niagara Falls. It's their anniversary, so we're giving them a big happy anniversary shout out.
While we didn't take a boat ride up to the base of the falls, we did enjoy watching the boats on the river.
We were surprised how wet we were from the spray off the falls. Here's a shot of the top of the falls, with the spray visible on the left.
Niagara Falls is packed with tourists from all over the world.
We tried some of the hokey things to do. Kristina is tickling the bear under the chin, and Pete is being kissed by a moose.
A frosty cone costs too much at Niagara Falls!
The Rainbow Bridge crosses over the Niagara River and the border between The US and Canada. The American Falls are to the right.
We walked down past Horseshoe Falls to get a closer look at the smaller American Falls.
Then we drove to the Finger Lakes in New York. This is the southern end of Seneca Lake at Watkins Glen.
The Finger Lakes are lovely, with lots of charming houses providing views of the lakes. The area is the "Napa Valley" of New York with numerous vineyards and wineries.
There is also lots of conventional agriculture here. We saw many acres of soybeans and corn.
We were happy to shop at small farm stands and bought some delicious produce.
We had been missing California peaches this summer, but were happy when we tasted the local peaches.
Payment at these farm stands was generally on the honor system.
There are a lot of vineyards here too. It was common to see grapes and hay growing side by side.
We did a little wine tasting and enjoyed the dry Rieslings we tried.
We had nice dinner at Suzanne, including crab cakes.
One day we went to Seneca Falls to the Women's Rights National Historical Park.
In 1848 the first Women's Rights convention was held here in Seneca Falls, where the Declaration of Sentiments was signed. It's an amazing document that holds no punches when it describes the state of women and demands equality.
It took more than 60 years for the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and many others to come to fruition through the 19th amendment that gave women the right to vote.
We hiked at Sampson State Park located on Seneca Lake.
The stones along the lakeshore were thin and smooth, so they were perfect for skipping.
This is our rustic cabin - just kidding. We think it is probably an abandoned military building when the park was the site of an Air Force base during the Korean War.
We saw a certain charm in the peeling paint and decrepitude, and Pete got an artsy shot of a wildflower growing next to the building.
This is actually our rustic cabin, complete with electricity and cold running water.
Pete needed three maps to look at our route from the Finger Lakes, as we had to drive through three states to get to Washington, DC, our next destination.
Our route happened to take us through South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series, on the day of the finals. Pete was rooting for South Korea, and they won!
People were lined up to get into the museum. We were tempted to check it out, but we had a long way still to drive.
Next blog posting will be about Washington DC and Philadelphia.
We had a great time catching up with her while we ate a tasty Indian dinner together. Jane brought us a map of Toronto and had tons of suggestions for things to do and places to eat.
Toronto is the fourth largest city in North America. The downtown is larger than this photo shows.
The CN tower is over 1,800 feet tall, and it's a landmark in Toronto.
We walked around to look at specific buildings. This is the new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) by Frank Gehry, which is controversial because it is so modern and doesn't match the original. We learned that Frank Gehry was born in Toronto.
There's lots of new architecture in Toronto, but there are some wonderful old buildings too. This is the old City Hall that was completed in 1899.
And this is the new City Hall. The large plaza in front of it includes a fountain that becomes an ice rink in winter.
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) was open late and was free when we walked by, so we checked it out.
This piece called Stretched by Evan Perry caught our attention. We read that the sculptor is making a statement about how modern life can push and pull us to an extreme level.
The interior of AGO's new five story tower is named Galleria Italia and has beautiful arching beams that reminded us of a ship's hull. It was also designed by Frank Gehry.
There were also incredible sculptural staircases in the new tower.
Here's the tower addition shown from the outside - it's the blue cube in the photo below. The white and black rectangle building to the right was the original Art Gallery of Ontario space.
We love being in a city with lots of ethnic diversity. Our best meal was at a Korean restaurant named Arisu. Closest to Kristina is a seafood pancake, next are small dishes of tasty salads called banchaan, then spicy octopus with noodles.
The restaurant is located in Koreatown.
Nearby was Chinatown, which was interesting to walk around.
We have a penchant for unusual museums, so we visited the Bata Shoe Museum.
One day we explored the botanical gardens.
There are many different gardens, including a kitchen garden with this bee house. We learned that 90% of bees are solitary and make their homes in tunnels or holes in trees.
We wanted to hike further so we explored some of the ravines of Toronto. We saw cyclists and walkers like us enjoying the paths by streams.
Our final meal in Toronto was at Linda Modern Thai, a place Jane had recommended to us. The decor reminded us of great times in Thailand last year.
And the pork jowl lettuce rolls were a treat.
As we drove from Toronto back to the US we stopped to check out Niagara Falls.
At a height of 188 feet and a width of about 2,600 feet, the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian border were loud!
Our dear friends Paul and Julie spent part of their honeymoon at Niagara Falls. It's their anniversary, so we're giving them a big happy anniversary shout out.
While we didn't take a boat ride up to the base of the falls, we did enjoy watching the boats on the river.
We were surprised how wet we were from the spray off the falls. Here's a shot of the top of the falls, with the spray visible on the left.
Niagara Falls is packed with tourists from all over the world.
We tried some of the hokey things to do. Kristina is tickling the bear under the chin, and Pete is being kissed by a moose.
A frosty cone costs too much at Niagara Falls!
The Rainbow Bridge crosses over the Niagara River and the border between The US and Canada. The American Falls are to the right.
We walked down past Horseshoe Falls to get a closer look at the smaller American Falls.
Then we drove to the Finger Lakes in New York. This is the southern end of Seneca Lake at Watkins Glen.
The Finger Lakes are lovely, with lots of charming houses providing views of the lakes. The area is the "Napa Valley" of New York with numerous vineyards and wineries.
There is also lots of conventional agriculture here. We saw many acres of soybeans and corn.
We were happy to shop at small farm stands and bought some delicious produce.
We had been missing California peaches this summer, but were happy when we tasted the local peaches.
Payment at these farm stands was generally on the honor system.
There are a lot of vineyards here too. It was common to see grapes and hay growing side by side.
We did a little wine tasting and enjoyed the dry Rieslings we tried.
We had nice dinner at Suzanne, including crab cakes.
One day we went to Seneca Falls to the Women's Rights National Historical Park.
In 1848 the first Women's Rights convention was held here in Seneca Falls, where the Declaration of Sentiments was signed. It's an amazing document that holds no punches when it describes the state of women and demands equality.
It took more than 60 years for the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and many others to come to fruition through the 19th amendment that gave women the right to vote.
We hiked at Sampson State Park located on Seneca Lake.
The stones along the lakeshore were thin and smooth, so they were perfect for skipping.
This is our rustic cabin - just kidding. We think it is probably an abandoned military building when the park was the site of an Air Force base during the Korean War.
We saw a certain charm in the peeling paint and decrepitude, and Pete got an artsy shot of a wildflower growing next to the building.
This is actually our rustic cabin, complete with electricity and cold running water.
Pete needed three maps to look at our route from the Finger Lakes, as we had to drive through three states to get to Washington, DC, our next destination.
Our route happened to take us through South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series, on the day of the finals. Pete was rooting for South Korea, and they won!
People were lined up to get into the museum. We were tempted to check it out, but we had a long way still to drive.
Next blog posting will be about Washington DC and Philadelphia.
