So Alexis left a few days before me and I met him in Toronto where we spent a few nights at the luxurious Westin Harbour Castle for mere pennies because Alexis works for the Sheraton Hotel and gets fabulous discounts! We had a room on the 20th floor with a fabulous view of the harbour and half price room service (which I thoroughly took advantage of). We had a really good time in Toronto shopping, strolling along the harbour and eating at some amazing little ethnic restaurants. We also had the opportunity to stroll through the "largest gay neighbourhood in Canada" and got trapped in a mini drag parade. It was awesome!
View from our hotel in Toronto, exploring the harbour
We took the train to Niagara Falls simply because neither of us had ever been passenger aboard the illustrious VIA Rail and it really was quite fun. We only spent one day in Niagara Falls and took the bus overnight to NYC to save on accommodation and time. Niagara was really really fun and we partook in every dorky tourist activity we could find. It was here that learned of the tourism industry's obsession with taking photos of unsuspecting tourists at every attraction and imposing their image onto some scenic backdrop. In a matter of an hour or so we found ourselves in front of the falls in broad daylight and then eerily hovering over them in the dark of night. In New York we were at the zoo, hovering above the Empire State Building... you get the idea. Of course being the dorky tourists that we are, Alexis and I bought the photos from the Falls. We went on the Maid of the Mist (the insufferable boat that is in EVERY photo because they run four different boats so that there is continuously a boat in the falls) and then we walked under the falls through the tunnels and got soaking wet on both adventures. These attractions are WAY more fun than they appear and I highly recommend them to everyone who has the chance.
That evening we had to get to the bus station before they closed at 10pm even though our bus didn't leave until 11:00 to get our luggage that we had stored there. As we were waiting we changed out of our wet clothes and napped while waiting for our bus which was over an hour late. And then when it finally arrived I couldn't find our tickets. I searched through every crevice of both our luggage but they were nowhere to be found. The bus left without us. But of course we found the tickets about 5 minutes later in the hidden front pocket of my backpack where the zipper was covered by a little flap to help keep water out. It was heartbreaking. So we waited for another hour or so until the next bus came shortly after 1am. Almost immediately we had to get off the bus at customs and Alexis got to try out his new Canadian citizenship card. He was amazed at how easily he was allowed to cross the boarder while the poor Mexican girl next to us got grilled with questions. Eventually we all got back on the bus and then we arrived in Buffalo where we were supposed to have a 30 minute rest stop. The 30 minute rest turned into a 90 minute layover and 3 in the morning because our bus was late... again. Finally we got aboard our next bus which was packed so Alexis and I couldn't even sit together. It was a proper catastrophe at that hour in the morning when I really needed a familiar shoulder to sleep on. In any case a couple hours later we had a bit of a break in Nowhere, New Jersey or Pennsylvania or something like that and the guy next to me got off and took with him all his belongings. So I grabbed Alexis in a half conscious stupor and we fell right to sleep. Then I was aroused not a few minutes later with the voice of a man saying "Where is my seat?... I was sitting just there, wasn't I? Who is that?" As bad as I felt for stealing his seat I pretended to be asleep and let him take Alexis' old seat. Anyway, we were originally meat to arrive at 7am but didn't actually get to New York City until around noon. It was the most horrible bus adventure ever!
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