Birthday, Basketball & Beauty

With interviews finally done and dusted, we made our way down to Toronto for Kate's birthday weekend, which also coincided with the CLEE finale.

Arriving in Toronto late afternoon, we caught up with our good friends, John & Tracy Wynde, who we hadn't seen since before summer. It was great to hear their summer tales whilse enjoying a few cold beverages, which soon turned into a great night, with John - the pool shark that he is - dominating me all over the local tables!

Next morning we enjoyed a nice easy breakfast at the Eaton centre, home to Toronto's shopping area. After a quick bite to eat, Kate and I made a very random decision to head to Niagara Falls, to see the comparison between winter and spring (we'd been there earlier this year). With not a lot of snow around Toronto, we weren't very sure what to expect, but as they say, anything can happen around the great lakes!

As we drove towards Niagara, the scenery drastically changed from the greens of the surrounding Toronto area, to a beautiful white landscape. The previous evening had seen Niagara record quite a bit of snowfall - which would certainly enhance the beauty of the great falls.

Upon arrival we stopped at one of our favourite eateries - Applebees - a quaint chain of diners that was cheap and top notch food!!! SCORE!

After that, it was time to rug up and head towards the falls. With the temperature lucky to hit -4, and with the cool mist in the air, it was going to be a long cold walk - but well worth it!!!

Arriving at the falls, the U.S. side was looking great. As we meandered up the path, it began to rain, not your normal rain - freezing rain - causing us to look like large icicles walking down the street...rather amusing when it melted in the souvenir store, where we entered to "heat up".

Taking many pics (snapping away like typical tourists) we braved the cold weather for some fun in the wet. After a few hours, we headed back to the car, but not before heavy snowfall came (they had threatened a "white out" for that evening - but it arrived a tad earlier than expected). Leaving quickly, but safely, we drove through heavy snowfall before being stuck in peak hour Toronto traffic (worse than Melbourne by a mile!!!!!)

That evening we headed out to the final CLEE event for the year, where we caught up with old friends and toasted the Canadians for organizing such wonderful events throughout the year (Wanakita, Ottawa, 1000 islands cruise, hockey night etc). A video presentation was compiled by one of the Aussies, as well as 4 songs - Aussie Jingle Bells, the gambler (re-made for our trip) and the two national anthems, sung with words from our trips....very clever Tracy Wynde!!!

The end came too quickly, retiring to our wonderful hotel. A 4am wake up call by the fire alarm had everyone downstairs in robes, underwear and whatever else they could manage. Three fire trucks and a couple of men with axes (firemen), the alarm had been false.

Sunday morning so Kate and I headed to our favourite eatery of the year - The Pickle Barrel - a lovely breakfast followed, before heading to the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame - where we were able to see sporting memorabillia, play interactive hockey games and enjoy seeing and touching the Stanley Cup....very cool.

The pinnacle of the weekend was watching the NBA game - Toronto Raptors playing the Portland Trailblazers. The Raptors shot out to a very early lead, before Portland pulled back and took out a lead of their own. Dominating the 2nd half, Portland looked home before the crowd rallied, pulling Toronto out of its slump back in the lead with only a few minutes to go. The clock slowly wound down, before a 3-pointer from Portland in the dying seconds destroyed any chance of Toronto winning, defeating them by 1 point....heartbreaking.

The crowd (small, but great) was fun to have around us, as well as the entertainment NBA basketball provides us with. A fantastic weekend - only 1 to go before we leave Ottawa...SCARY!!!!