I spent most of today visiting Niagara Falls which was absolutely awesome. Such natural beauty coupled with stunning gardens and parks can’t fail to impress. Juxtaposed with this is Clifton Hill which can only be described as super-tacky. I did check on the Lego Brick City to check that there was no mention of ‘Legos‘ and chanced my arm to see if I could get free entry to the Guinness World Records Museum by dint of being an ex-record holder but no dice.
Those of you who read Alex’s comment will already know that the flow is artificially controlled (way to steal my thunder dude). The Falls were receding by three or four feet per year before the flow control was put into place and now this erosion has been pared back to around a foot every decade.
On the way back to Toronto we stopped at Lakeview winery to sample a few of their wines. Their Vidal Icewine was absolutely gorgeous and if you get the chance I’d highly recommend it.
One thing that is most noticeable here in Canada is the amount of trust that is involved in everyday life. An excellent case-in-point is the City Café Bakery in Kitchener where you are trusted to total your own bill and pay on your way out.
I’m so unused to this honour system way of thinking that I stood for a full uneasy 30 seconds waiting for a ticket at the subway station the other day before remembering that no ticket is actually issued and then walking through the turnstile with mumbled apologies.
You’d think that there would be an abundance of free (a.k.a. “unsecured”) Wifi with all of this trust. You’d be wrong. Coming from New York where freely available wireless access is legion (by design or otherwise) to Toronto where everything is nailed down tight is proving to be a tad annoying.
Despite the minor hassle of being sent back to security when I tried to board the plane at Newark the flight was fairly uneventful. I couldn’t quite make out Niagara Falls on approach to Toronto but hopefully I’ll get to see them up close next week sometime.
I had a wander around downtown yesterday and today to try and get my bearings. Toronto seems like it will be a nice place once it’s finished. Everywhere I look there seems to be a building site. Maybe this is the start of a push to halt the current decline of tourism and tourist satisfaction with Toronto.
Just as it says on the t-shirt.
I spent lunchtime in Central Park where “passive activities like reading, relaxing, sunbathing and daydreaming are encouraged” and then this afternoon walking around the American Museum of Natural History.
My New York City Pass has finally paid off over the past couple of days with free audio commentary at the Empire State Building and a free pass to the Hayden Planetarium today (with narration by Robert Redford no less). I think I really needed about five hours to walk round the exhibits to give everything the attention it deserved. The last hour was certainly rushed.
Walking around New York with a bag slung over my shoulder sent me back 11 years to my Southwestern Summer but I think the least said about that the better. A large part of my wanderings have been spent in mushin which has really helped to to relax and unwind. As I thought would happen, all my fears and doubts faded away once I was actually on the plane over here.
I didn’t really think that I’d enjoy myself quite this much. Big cities tend to put me on edge somewhat but I haven’t experienced that once while I’ve been here. Admittedly, I’ve not seen much outside Manhattan and Brooklyn but I’ve really liked everything that I have seen.
Standout moments will have to be the “Top of the Rock” observation deck at the Rockerfeller Center, Central Park, the Natural History Museum and randomly talking to a bewildered Jewish grandma over a sandwich on her first visit to a Subway one busy lunchtime.
CNN almost did.
They were so close with their t-shirts recently but then had to go and spoil things by slapping their logo right on there. Less is more once again. In fact when it comes to branding, anything at all is starting to be considered brash when it comes to Web 2.0.
Google certainly do.
I happened upon a busy white tent Last Friday night in New York city. It was surrounded by some fantastic projections on the neighbouring buildings but there was no clue as to what was going on. That was unless you investigated and had a look inside. Cameras, computers and a couple of dogs quite randomly. Turns out it was a promo for iGoogle - the personalised version of Google. If you’ve been on the Internet for a while now then you may recognise this as the portal concept from the late 1990s and the “My Netscape”.
I decided that yesterday wasn’t the day for looking out of tall buildings so it turned out to be my day of culture with a walk up 5th Avenue (pausing to browse the Apple Store obviously) to Museum Mile and the Metropolitan and Guggenheim museums.
I managed to get myself admonished in the Guggenheim within five minutes thanks to some contradictory signs apropos photography. The outside was also not photographable as it is covered with scaffolding for exterior restoration at the moment which was disappointing. Inside the Frank Lloyd Wright designed building was stunning though. There was some impressive Kandisky and Klee in the Nierendorf collection but the main installation along rotunda spirals was Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want To Believe (and no, it’s not related to the X-Files).
I reached the top of spiral just as my patience with pretentious and sullen arty types was running out but I timed it perfectly to see the full three minute film of Cai’s 2005 Black Rainbow: Explosion Project for Edinburgh being played.
Any artist that gets away with using vast amounts of explosives is fine in my book. He’s also on the creative team for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics so be prepared for something special.
An obvious post title I know, but you’d better get used to them.
I had a wander around Brooklyn this morning to get my bearings then walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, down Broadway and Wall Street to Battery Park. And that’s where the next hour or so of fun began.
For some reason the Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island queuing system is overly complicated and woefully under explained. Don’t be tempted to join the large queue at the pier straight away. First you’ll have to queue for the Castle Clinton and then once inside that you can buy a ticket for the ferry excursion. If you actually want to ascend the Statue of Liberty it’s at this point that you need to make sure that you buy a ticket that has “Monument Access” on it. Despite the tempting savings, if you plan on visiting several tourist attractions don’t buy a New York pass as I did because you won’t be able to climb the Statue. Nobody will tell you this and there is no way to actually buy a ticket once you’re on the island itself.
It turns out that if I did have the correct type ticket and had climbed up inside the Statue I would have missed the last boat to Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum. Besides, it was getting all a bit too Hitchcockian for my liking.
I didn’t really have enough time in the museum before the last boat back to Manhattan. It was a very quick tour around but still hugely interesting (despite a couple of interactive exhibits being out of order) and in such an impressively restored building. The beautiful Guastavino tile ceiling in the Great Hall stopped me in my tracks for a good few minutes.
I decided to end the day and head back to the ranch via the World Trade Center site where some people where busy taking photos which I found a bit ghoulish to be honest.
The taxi picked me up at some ungodly hour yesterday morning and ferried me to Heathrow terminal three. We passed Sir Alan Sugar’s Rolls Royce on the way and I briefly thought about jabbing my finger at him and mouthing “you’re fired” but decided that was a bit too obvious.
The flight was fairly uneventful (if you discount the stewardess spilling water on my head) and with a decent tail-wind we landed 45 minutes ahead of schedule but I still had time to watch I am Legend and Michael Clayton on Virgin’s fantastic inflight entertainment system as well as finish Douglas Coupland’s Generation X.
I had just over two hours to make it to the 11th Street Bar for the Champions League semi-final match between Chelsea and Liverpool. I passed through immigration without any problem, picked up my bag and jumped into a taxi. Of course, it would have been a huge help if I could remember exactly where on 11th I was going. In the end I decided to be dropped off in the middle of 11th and pick a direction.
I walked East and West without seeing any bars at all and eventually found free wifi access to Google. I forgot how streets can stop and start at various random points in this country. With 30 minutes to go I finally arrived and ordered my first pint. The place was already packed and by the time kick-off came the 125 person maximum capacity notice was barely visible. What an atmosphere!
I had a strange feeling about the game. I was actually fairly confident of Liverpool going through thanks, in part, to me building up some karma on the flight by helping the Buddhist monk order a vegetarian meal and recline his seat. Oh well, I did all I could.
