I am writing this after driving for 1300 Miles starting from Columbus Ohio making a round trip around Lake ERIE and arriving Columbus after 5 Days. Yes I wanted to Explore LAKE ERIE and its beauty and started my 5-Day trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls from Columbus, OH. We drove from Columbus on 1st of July 2005 and we reached DETROIT, which is about 200 Miles from Columbus in 3 Hours. Detroit also called the Motor City of USA is a city, which is located at the
Border of USA and
CANADA. There is a bridge that connects both the County (USA and
CANADA). The bridge is called AMBASDOR BRIDGE. One
can pass the bridge and get into Canada within minutes.
Fortunately for us it was only a 15 Minute wait. Once you enter
Canada from US there is a beautiful city called Windsor, which
faces Detroit. From Windsor one can Take the 401 Highway and can
reach Toronto in less about 4 Hours. It’s a 230-Miles drive
from Windsor to Toronto and its plain flat Lands. One can drive
at 130 KM/Hr without any problem and the road is
soft, smooth and Beautiful. One has to be careful and fill the
Gas Tank as the Exits are far from Each other. That’s one
difference I noted between driving in Canada and USA. We reached
Scarborough, Canada, which is a Suburb of Toronto after a good 9
Hour Drive from Columbus, Ohio. We had some good Home made food
packed from Columbus which we had on our Way to Toronto. We then
landed in Our Good Friends Sisters house who lives in center of
the City in Scarborough. Her Apartment is a high raise Building
and we stayed in the 11th Floor of her apartment complex. The
View from her apartment complex is too good. From any room in her
apartment complex one can see the CN Tower and the City. We had a
very good view of the City from the Apartment complex that night
on the 1st. She made some Nice IDLY and Sambar and we all (20
People) had idly that day at 1 in the night. We then went to bed
after a long chat. THE BAY OF LAKE ONTARIO:
On JULY 2nd 2005 we started from Scarborough and we drove to Milton Hindu temple. The Temple is located about 10 Kilo Meters from Scarborough and 30 KM from Toronto. The Temple is one of the largest temple outside India and the Largest Hindu temple in CANADA. One will really feel that he is in INDIA and temple and the sculptures are so authentic that you will not believe that you are outside India. The Temple is Vinayagar Temple and its definitely a Must see for people who are visiting Canada. It’s a huge temple and it’s as big as a big temple in India. They have authentic NADASWARAM music going on in the temple ans the temple has hired people from India to Play music.
From there we drove about 40 Miles to where we had a private Party on the Beach. The beach is a private Property and one can rent cabins out there. The cost for a person to visit and enjoy the beach is 10 Canadian Dollars. But it’s really worth it. The beach is located in the banks of Lake Ontario. Every year they have a tradition during the weekend of July 1st. They celebrate CANADA day with friends and family out in a resort. There were about 200 people out there dancing and singing songs. It was lots of fun. I was not able to resist the fun out there. So Myself, Ganesh and My Brother in Law jumped into the Lake Ontario and stated to swim. The water was cold but it was a beautiful view of the river. The Specialty of the Beach was the water was just 5 Feet deep and it was lot of fun.
After a while everyone came inside the beach to swim. It was lots of fun and I came out of water after two hours of Swim in the world’s famous Lake ONTARIO. The people out there on the beach had one thing in mind. HAVE FUN and FORGET THE WORLD. People out in the boat were encouraging and I was just having fun with them. We had a friend who came with us who had a Boat. I got really excited after seeing it. I initial thought that it was just a boat. But when we got into the boat there was a Thrill of our Life waiting for us. It was Myself, Ganesh, Amma and Appa and SUGU who is the Boat owner. He just started his boat and was going at 5 Miles per hour till he reached a point where he can accelerate the boat. I just can’t explain in world. It was a fast Boat and he picked up a Speed for 40 Miles per hour and the boat was at a 75 Degree angle. It was a "LIFE TIME MOMENT” and we were screaming like anything. SUGU took us for a ride of our life and the waves from the other boat almost made us Feel that we were acting in a JAMES BOND 007 Movie. We couldn’t take the speed and the angle and we requested SUGU to slow Down!! I think for him SLOW Means FAST!! HE took a U Turn at that speed and drove even faster.
It was total Fun and we had real fun. After the Boat ride we went to GERALD Street in Toronto. Toronto is a Very international city. It has mixed culture and lots of citizen from different parts of the world. GERALD street is one example. GERALD street in Toronto is filled with India shops. Punjabi’s and Tamil’s own it all. One can feel that you are in T.NAGAR Rang Nathan Street if you are there. It’s filled with Indian Shops. You can buy any kind of DVD's from there. A- Z and they have one of the finest collection of DVD's one can imagine. You can’t even get it in India and I have not seen such good collection of DVD's and Songs anywhere in the world. One street that I can compare to Toronto is Chicago’s DEVON Avenue. But Gerald Street is much bigger and we were able to cover only 5% of it in 3 hours. That night we were completely gone. I was Still Fresh. We dropped everyone in the apartment and its time for Night Life in Toronto. Myself and my Brother in law and my Friends husband escaped and we were hopping around!! It was cool and there is nowhere other than PUT IN BAY which has so many restaurants concentrated in One place. We came home around 2 in the night and slept that night.
DOWNTOWN TORONTO, CENTER ISLAND, CN TOWER:
On 3rd July 2005 we were all set to go to Downtown Toronto to enjoy the beauty of the High Raise buildings. Toronto Downtown is surrounded by Water. It is on the
banks of Lake Ontario. The Downtown is very
pretty with lots of High raise Buildings. One Place you must
never miss if you are in Toronto is the Center Island. You can go
to Center Island by Boat and the round trip cost is $ 6
CAN Dollars. Parking is very very expensive in Toronto.
We parked in a place paying $20. You basically board the Boat and
you the boat take you to an island. The views from the boat is
very beautiful and strongly recommend you to go to the place in
night. The Island is filled with fun filled activity especially
for the Children’s less than 10 years old. The Island has a
beach and one can sit on the beach and pass days together. If you
like water island and stuff Center Island is the place for you.
We finished our lunch in the island and we had a nice walk on the
beach. Then we came back to downtown to climb CN Towers. The
Cost to climb CN Towers is $21 CAN Dollars and its the
tallest building in TORONTO. The CN Tower also has a very good
dinning Restaurant which is a rotating restaurant called CN 360.
The food is expensive and around 50$ for an on tray Dinner. The
Wait time to climb the building is around 2 hours. So better plan
accordingly. I would strongly recommend some one to go on a
weekday where it’s not busy. Once you climb the building you
will have a very good view of the city. You can see LAKE ONTARIO
from the top. Lots of High raises buildings. The Drive from
Scarborough to Downtown is really good. You pass amazing bridges
and tunnels and the Roads are really good. Each side has 10 Lanes
and its the only city that has 20 LANES of Road. Its Just
Amazing. By the time we came home it was late in the night and it
was one good day. AFRICAN LION SAFARI in HAMILTON:
One more place I recommend to go in Toronto is AFRICAN LION SAFARI. We thought that we did lots of Water Activity and Boat Ride and City Watch and thought that we will do something different. We decided to go to AFRICAN LION SAFARI, which is located about an Hour Drive West of the City of TORONTO. It was a long drive and was pretty hot 4th of JULY. We reached there and it was really hot. The Entrance for the safari was 24$. It was great and good but I thought that it was Expensive. Had it been a 10 or 15$ Entry it would have been fun. I thought it was too much for that money. But it was real fun and you drive through animals like Lion and Tigers. If you are really into animals then its fine or else there is lot to do in The City. Some of the place we didn’t cover in the city are Some Huge shopping malls right in front of CN Towers. We went to a Temple in Scarborough that day. We then drove to GULEPH, ON which is right next to the safari place where my uncle lives. We spend the whole night in his house and chatted with him. Next day morning we headed out to Niagara Falls.
FOOD IN TORONTO:
If you are in Toronto the best thing you can do is Eat Eat and Eat. I have already mentioned in the write up that TORONTO is the best International city that I have ever seen. It’s filled with a mixture of Immigrants from all over the world. You can walk thought the city and see Pockets and pockets of Chinese, Indian, Sri Lankans etc etc. When you have a mixed culture in the city you will have lots of Ethnic Restaurants. My god there is nowhere in the world I have seen so many of Ethnic Restaurants. You can get "KOTHU BAROTTA" to "IDIYAPPAM" . "IDLY to OOTHAPPAM". If you are a good Chinese food Eater TORONTO Is the city for you. If you like JAPANESE food there you go man "TORONTO". You can find lots of ethnic stores too. One can go to Toronto and do Groceries shopping and pay 50% less that what you pay in a traditional Groceries store.
NIAGARA FALLS, CANADA:
We started from Our Uncle's Place (GUELPH, ON) and drove down to Niagara Falls, CANADA. I have written a lot about Niagara Falls and have visited Niagara Falls More at least Five Times. But the Specialty of that Place is you will always feel that you are going there for the first time. From GUELPH, ON Niagara Falls is a good Two Hour Drive. This is the first time I am seeing Niagara Falls from the Canadian Side and the entire previous visit to Niagara Falls was from the USA Side. I would say the best view of the falls is from the CANADIAN SIDE. It was a clear day and the falls was very pretty. There is a ride in CANADIAN side called BACK TO THE FALLS Ride. You can hike down and go near the main falls in Niagara and see the falls from 10 Feet. It’s a very famous tourist spot and lots and lots of Movies in Tamil Movie industry were made here. Then we walked on the beautiful Canadian Side and reached the world famous Both Ride (MAID OF THE MIST). The Maid of the mist ride takes you in a boat near the fall and its one of the beast adventure ride you can imagine. It takes you right next to the falls and its lots of fun. I have written enough about NIAGARA FALLS in my previous Writings. We went to both the rides and we didn’t want to miss any fun. It was Lots of Fun with everyone on the boat. Then we crossed the Border from CANADA and entered USA.
We then had to drive SEVEN Hours from NIAGARA FALLS To Columbus. We passed BUFFALLO, NEW YORK, and then we entered the State of PENSULVANNIA. We passed ERIE and Entered OHIO. We then Passed CLEVELAND and then Came home around 1 AM in the Night to COLUMBUS. I read my Mileage it was exactly 1301 MILES from the starting point. In other words we made a complete round over LAKE ERIE and Covered good Part of LAKE ONTARIO. I need to See LAKE SUPERIOR, which I am planning to visit Next Year. I have made a Good Travel around LAKE MICHIGAN. It was a fun trip And we all came home safely. It was so nice of our Friends in TORONTO to accommodate us and Provide food and everything. We will never forget their friendly nature and it was all because of them we made a wonderful Trip. So Three Cheers to GANESH and ANANDHI and KALPANA and JAY. Last but not least the SUGU's BOAT. It was all fun and we really enjoyed a wonderful 5 DAY Trip over LAKE ERIE.
WTIH LOVE,
PRABU, AUTHOR LOLLU EXPRESS
EMAIL : KANMAN@HOTMAIL.COM