Martyr's Shrine Day 5 (Last)

Today is the last day of our little Toronto trip. We're going to go to mass to this place outside Toronto. It's called Martyr's Shrine. On the way there, we caught a glimpse of Canada's Wonderland. We'll go there one day. We also saw a lot of plains that reminded me of the view at Caleruega. I guess Martyr's shrine is somewhat like Caleruega with the church, the nice view, and the gardens. They also attract a lot of pilgrims/tourists. Martyr's shrine though has a lot of statues around the compound. The Church is also quite nice inside and out. It also has the bones of some saints on display.

Martyr's Shrine Full Photo Album

From there we stopped by Cookstown outlet mall to get some "pasalubong". Other than that, I was sleeping for most of the way. We also stopped by Yam's friend's place who was having a party. After that, we picked up our bags and headed for the airport. It was a pretty packed plane so we weren't able to get a window seat. It was a guy holding his kid who got it. Since he was sharing the seat with a small child, the stewardess gave him special instructions/procedures. So no sights = all sleep. We wouldn't have seen anything anyway, since it was nighttime. Pity though I couldn't take a picture of the Winnipeg lights from the sky. We arrived slightly after midnight, took a cab and went straight to bed. It was a fun but tiring trip. I even told Mean that I was having a great time and at the same time couldn't wait for it to end. Perhaps on our next trip, we won't have such a packed itinerary. Then again, we'd probably have to give up going to some major attractions which I would regret. Or maybe we could rent a car. I wonder where we'll be going...

Bye Toronto Full Photo Album

Niagara Falls Day 4

Yam and Gibes offered to bring us to Niagara Falls today. We left around 10am. It was then I was exposed to the freeways. I think there were usually 14 lanes at any given stretch. An amazing site for country folk like us :) We also got some other viewing angles of the lake and Toronto. The sights were also so different from ultra flat plains of Manitoba.

The falls were what this was all building up to though. A short distance away, we could already see the mist rising from the force of the water. And when we got to the railings, it didn't disappoint.

Niagara Falls Full Photo Album

We had to start visiting the attractions though so as not to waste our Niagara Pass. First off was Journey Behind the Falls. Here we descended by elevator several meters down into a tunnel that goes behind the horseshoe falls. Through the tunnel you could access 3 openings located directly behind the torrent of water. You could also access a large viewing deck just beside the falls.

Journey Behind the Falls Full Photo Album

After that, we headed for the Maid of the Mist. On the way, we took some more pics.

Niagara View Full Photo Album

On to the Maid of the Mist. This boat ride goes right up to both falls. After this, I wanted a waterproof camera.

Maid of the Mist Full Photo Album

From there we took the shuttle or People Mover (we have a whole day pass with the Niagara Pass) to White Water Walk. It's a close up view of the rapids. They say it's a class 6 which means if you want to die, take a boat and go down the river. There are several stories of daredevils who tried to go through the river displayed before getting to the walkway. Many of these don't have happy endings. When you see the rapids, you'll start to wonder what they were thinking.

White Water Walk Full Photo Album

It was getting pretty late now. We nearly weren't able to get into the Butterfly Conservatory. I guess this isn't a place we'd normally visit when at Niagara falls but it came with the pass. It wasn't bad. I've been to a place like this in the Philippines (Subic). I'm proud of myself though. There was a butterfly that didn't want to leave the walkway and might have been crushed under someone's shoe if I hadn't kept trying to shoo it into the plants. ANYWAY... here some pics.

Butterfly Conservatory Full Photo Albumry

The day was pretty much winding down from here. We found a nice garden for some extra pics. We then joined Yam and Gibes at the Casino for the buffet dinner. On the way home, I slept most of the way. We weren't as tired as before though thanks to the people mover. This was a great day. I'd say the best of the whole trip.

Niagara End Full Photo Album

Toronto Day 3

Like the previous days, we couldn't wake up as early as planned. Originally we were supposed to go to Chinatown, Eaton Center, City Hall and possibly Toronto Islands. However, we decided to go to Toronto Islands immediately instead. We didn't know where exactly we could catch the boat so we just walked by the docks. It turns out it was a pretty long walk (we had to make a few detours as well). When looking out at the water, it's easy to forget that it's not an ocean. We could even see sailboats in the distance. I guess I'm used to lakes where you could see the opposite shoreline. There are quite a few things you can do here. You can have picnics, bike, boat, swim, etc. Basically a place to relax. They even have a small amusement park which was closed for the day. You'll also have a great view of Toronto's skyline from here. Of course it helps that it's surrounded by Lake Ontario - one of the five great lakes. After walking and biking around I was tired again. I'm just out of shape.

Toronto Islands Full Photo Album

We went back to the hotel to retrieve our bags and cel phone(which we left in the room). From here we brought our bags to Yam's office. She offered to keep them while we roam around. She even agreed to stay a bit late in the office to give us more sightseeing time. It was getting late so we wouldn't be able to go to all the places we want to. So we went to the Royal Ontario Museum. The front of the museum was redesigned and was finished just recently. And I have to say, it was quite a sight. I didn't even feel the need to go into the museum. We did though so we could use more of our citypass. I guess it's what you would expect from museums. Lots of artifacts, dinosaur skeletons and animal displays. Maybe I was just tired and already happy to see the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal so I wasn't so enthusiastic. Maybe I should go back someday to more thoroughly take in everything here.

Royal Ontario Museum Full Photo Album

When we left the museum it was starting to rain. We still tried to visit City Hall by going through Toronto's PATH or downtown underground walkway. It wasn't meant to be though as the rain only got stronger. With that, we headed for Yam and Gibes' place. With that, we bid goodbye to downtown as our following trips would be outside the city. Next stop, Niagara Falls.

Toronto Day 2

For Day 2, Our itinerary included Toronto Zoo and The Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place. I initially wanted to be at Toronto Zoo by 9:00am since I've read it could easily take an entire day to see everything there. However, that just wasn't going to happen since we were extremely tired from the previous day. Our hotel stay included free continental breakfast. When I first heard this, I was quite excited. It turns out that continental breakfast means cereal, toasted bread, jam, juice, muffins, etc. I was expecting something with egg at least. Having said that, I still liked the hotel given the price and location. We first had to pass by Yam's office to get our Niagara and Lantern Festival passes. She and Mean were happy to see each other after a long while. They would get a chance to catch up even more since they graciously offered us to stay at their place starting Friday.

So off to Toronto Zoo we went. It was quite a long ride with 2 trains and 2 buses. When we got there we decided to get a pass for the Zoomobile to maybe decrease our walking. This might have been a waste though since it didn't stop for us to take pictures when passing the animal enclosures. It was more like a shuttle between major areas. So we got off and continued on foot. It was quite a hike for the day. We were there for around 7 hours mostly walking. Highlights include an either curious or ill-tempered ostrich, a not-so-shy squirrel, playing tiger cubs. I probably missed a few interesting things so, again, the pics should do.

Toronto Zoo Full Photo Album

After that, we headed back to the hotel to recharge the battery. We drained one of our batteries and part of the second one so I worried that we wouldn't have enough left for the Chinese Lantern Festival. There also wasn't enough time to fully recharge the battery. With that, we set off. It wasn't a straightforward ride due to construction going on at the streetcar routes and the distance of Ontario Place from the nearest stop. Soon we caught a glimpse of the several Lanterns scattered throughout the site. Other than the lanterns, they had a lot of stalls selling Chinese souvenirs and food. There were also some performances and demonstrations going on. My main focus though were the lanterns. There was also wasn't enough time as the place was in the process of closing down as we finished dinner. Thankfully we had just enough battery time to take a picture of all the Lanterns. I'm really glad Mean found out about this event because it was really worth it.

Chinese Lantern Festival Full Photo Album

After that, we were exhausted yet again. Not as much as the previous day though since we had a decent amount of sleep. Hopefully, we'll be able to regain even more energy since there's still a lot of walking to do tomorrow.

Toronto Day 1

This took me long enough. There were just too many pictures. I bought 2 2Gb memory sticks and an extra battery just for the trip. the result is about 1400 pics and vids. I'm not going to go too much into detail on what we did there. We already have the pics to do that and I'll never finish this if I try to type it. Besides, who reads this stuff anyway? :)

Anyway, we got up early Wednesday to catch our flight (5:55am boarding). This, by the way, is me and Mean's first plane flight together. We arrived at around 9:30 at Toronto Pearson Airport. We wanted to find to find a TTC day pass but there was no place to get it. Thankfully the bus driver didn't charge us since he knew we would get one. In Winnipeg, we have Navigo where we can find the exact way to get from point A to B. It's not perfect but it sure made things easier. Toronto has nothing similar so we had to rely on maps. At first it seemed daunting but we soon found the buses/trains we needed to take. It was surprisingly easy to get around especially with the subway.



Check-in time at the hotel was still a few hours away so our first stop from the airport was the Philippine consulate since Mean had to renew her passport. It was kinda annoying to pull my bag around since it got wobbly after going over just a few bumps. I think it had something to do with my height. From there we headed to Travelodge to check in.

To Toronto Full Photo Album

Our first "tourist" destination was Casa Loma. Here, we purchased the Toronto Citypass. With the citypass, we could visit 6 attractions for a discounted price. I think it's already worth it if we visited only 3. It was a bit of a walk from the subway station, and uphill at that. Casa Loma is a castle serving as a museum with rooms restored to what they looked like decades ago. It also has a nice garden which I'm sure Mean would enjoy. But what I was really after was the exterior of the castle itself which looked pretty impressive in the pictures I saw. Unfortunately, part of it was under renovation but it still looked impressive nonetheless. ET Canada was also holding shows there for the Toronto International Film Festival (which was ongoing that week) so some areas were closed or had the set impeding access to some areas.

Casa Loma Full Photo Album

After that, I was getting pretty tired. Plus we bought a jug of water which we had to bring back to the hotel. I was tempted to just rest but I had to keep going or I'd regret not going to some of the attractions. More so since what we had planned for the evening was CN Tower. At this point CN Tower was just dethroned as the tallest freestanding structure by the Burj Dubai (it's still growing by the way). I didn't care though since I was still sure to get some awesome views. There was the main viewing area and the skypod even higher above it. Again, the pics should be enough. I just have to say though that the glass floor exposed me as a sissy while Mean didn't seem bothered at all.

CN Tower Full Photo Album

After all that, I was exhausted. We had dinner at a nearby Shawarma/Gyro place. We had to get some stuff from a convenience store but after that I was pretty much dead. The next day is sure to be equally tiring with Toronto Zoo and The Chinese Lantern Festival.

Toronto bound

The flight is booked, the Hotel room reserved, the itinerary is set (sort of). We'll be in Toronto from this Wednesday(12th) to Sunday. There are a lot of interesting places to visit there. We plan to go to Niagara Falls (not in Toronto), CN Tower, Toronto Zoo, Royal Ontario Museum (pics), Casa Loma, Ontario Place (for the Chinese Lantern Festival), possibly Toronto Islands and others. Unfortunately, we won't be able to go to Canada's Wonderland since it's closed on weekdays (we're going to Niagara on Saturday). We also might not be bable to cover the whole of Toronto Zoo since I've read that it's huge. Other places we most probably will miss are Ontario Science Centre, Hockey Hall of Fame and Art Gallery of Ontario. Oh well, we'll probably be back here when we try to get US visas so we can get back to whatever we missed.

Winnipeg Buildings

On the way home from Folklorama, I snapped a few shots of some of the city's buildings.

Winnipeg Buildings

Folklorama 2007 - Cuba

Me, Mean and Paola (Mean's co-worker and training batchmate) went to the Cuban Pavilion today. The line was long but not as bad since it was a weekday. Naturally, the first thing we went for was the food. It was pretty good since it reminded me of home. They had a Cuban plate which had fried rice, ground beef, and "lechon". They even had some potato dish (I love potatoes). The performance was good. Nothing too acrobatic. Actually they did have some impressive physical feats too but it's hard to top the mexican performance. Anyway it was a good array of dances and it never got boring.

Folklorama 2007 - Cuba

Folklorama 2007 - Mexico

Last night we tried out the Mexican Pavilion "Faces of Mexico". We decided to arrive early (5:30) for the 6:45pm show. Even then, there already was a long line. They started letting people in at 6:00. The site was much bigger than the Argentina one. They also had bleachers in case everyone won't fit at the main area with chairs and tables. They had a lot of Mexican goods and souvenirs for sale and the booths were even designed with a Mexican feel. Since there was a lot of time we decided to get some food. They had the expected tacos, tortilla wraps, chips and dessert. I wasn't raving about the food. I guess I've grown used to restaurant Mexican food and that's what I was expecting.

Just like the Argentina pavilion, they started off with a performance by the kids. After which they had a medley of group dances. In one instance, 3 pairs seemed to be adjusting something on the floor with their feet (they were standing). It turns out they were tying ribbons.

The highlight of the night though was the finale. I'll let the video speak for itself:

Full photo album

Folklorama 2007 - Argentina

First an intro on Folklorama. It's an annual event in Winnipeg where several pavilions representing different countries are scattered around the city. In these pavilions, they have cultural performances, booths and sell native food, drinks and other products.

Last night, I went to my first Folklorama pavilion - the Argentina "Tango" Pavilion We were supposed to go to the kick-off but my back interfered with our plans. The site was just a 20 minute walk from the office. There was a bit of a drizzle though. When I got there it was getting close to capacity with over an hour before the show. We'd probably have to settle for the 8:15 show since Mean was still several minutes away. It was fine though since we were told we could enter the pavilion and try out the food and check out the booths while waiting. They had a tent where people could eat and wait. They had a guy with a guitar and a singer singing Argentinian tunes to keep us entertained too. The food was ok. It was actually quite like what we have in the Philippines. They had emapanadas which aren't as sweet as ours. And their version of our leche flan. It looks exactly the same but tastes a bit different. It has a more of a gelo feel to it.

The time for the show finally came. The first performance was a dance number by (probably) Argentinian kids. There was a traditional dance by a pair complete with costume. Then a song number by a local duo. They then had a lengthy Tango performance by a pair they flew in straight from Argentina. The guy even played an accordion (or accordion-like instrument). Since this was the Tango pavilion, I thought that was the finale, but it wasn't. It was another traditional dance performed by the other pair that performed earlier. They started off dancing while playing the drums, sometimes one of them just drumming and the other dancing. But the most impressive part of it was when they started using these rope like instruments with hard ends. They swing the rope around occasionally letting it strike the ground. Sort of like a drum. It's hard to describe but it was impressive as he sped up while keeping his rhythm. It's a pity I forgot my camera. Had to settle with my phone's camera. Unfortunately, it's not really worth posting here. We'll try to visit other pavilions before the festival ends this coming Saturday.

I think this is a good festival for the city to have since Winnipeg (actually the whole of Canada) has such a large and growing immigrant population. It's a way for everyone to be introduced to all these cultures. It's also a good way for children to be exposed to the culture/heritage of their parents and not be totally "westernized".

More info:
Official Site

Canada Day - The Forks

After Lower Fort Garry, we headed to Mike & Elaine's place to rest since the fireworks show was at 11pm. It also started to rain hard (poor folks at the Forks). At around 8:30 we headed out. There was a lot of people and quite a bit going on. There were music shows, magic shows. Rogers booths scattered about with varied promos. There was a bigger stage with bands playing. Stores and restaurants were very busy as well.


But what most of the people were waiting for were the fireworks. We picked a spot around 30 minutes before 11. I was pretty tired at this point and the crowd was growing as the show got closer. Finally it started.

Not bad at all. Ending could have been better though. In other fireworks shows I've seen, they unleash a barrage at the end. This one just stopped.

You may notice the pictures with all the Canadian flags and Maple leafs. I'm feeling a little guilty since I never really did stuff like that in the Philippines. I guess I was always tired back then and didn't really like big crowds and hated difficult parking. Then there's the traffic of course. Well at least I wouldn't cheer as hard for Canadian boxers when watching fights on TV. That's the new immigrant's situation I guess.

View Full Photo Album

Canada Day - Lower Fort Garry

Yesterday was Canada Day. For this day, we joined Elaine & Mike again and Eugene (who coincidentally, I met at Success Skills) and went for a picnic and tour at Lower Fort Garry. This would be my first time out of Winnipeg (I think we were outside Winnipeg during the Great West Life boat ride, but I didn't actually step on non-Winnipeg land :) ).


When we got there, we set up for the picnic. There actually is an entrance fee but it was waived for today. There was a square dance group/club there providing entertainment for Picnickers.


Lower Fort Garry is the oldest stone fur trading post still intact in North America. Attractions here include preserved 19th century buildings, costumed "tour guides" reenacting life back then. The guides mostly stay in character and wait in their own buildings/areas telling the guests things about the building and the people who occupied it.


It as a nice place. It gives you an idea of the way of life back then. The tour guides might have been better able to tell their stories if there weren't that much people there. They seemed to have a bit of a hard time coping with the higher than usual visitor volume. We'll consider coming back in the near future.

View Full Photo Album

Info:
Parks Canada - Lower Fort Garry
Wikipedia- Lower Fort Garry

Red River Ex

Yesterday, we were finally able to go to The Ex at the Red River Exhibition Park. This is when the park is transformed into an amusement park for around 3 weeks. So you have your usual extreme rides, kiddie rides and everything in between. Of course there are also games, shows, shopping and food.

We don't have a car yet so we had to take the buses the city provides specifically for the event. Plus I hate driving right now. We already took this bus on Friday from Polo Park, which is roughly half way there and it was really packed in the bus. So for today we decided to catch it at the start of the route. As expected the bus was filled-up very quickly. The bus driver didn't even bother to stop at Polo Park and after.

When we arrived, there were long lines. Good thing we already had tickets (ride-all-you-can). When I got in, the first thing I noticed were dogs practicing in an obstacle course. They have dog shows at certain times of the day. It wasn't time for that yet so we went for our first ride. We picked the drop of fear.
I was trying to scream like a little girl but I lost my voice halfway down.

After that we found that the dog show had started. There wasn't much room anymore so we didn't stay long. Here's some of what we saw.

I really wanted to see them go through the arches/bars.

What they lack in skill they make up with slapstick humor.

They also had a reptile show. There was no show at the time we were there but there were big snakes and crocs/alligators(?) on display.


Our next stop was the Giant Slide. I remember that back in the Philippines, we slid down using rice sacks.


This is called the Slingshot. We didn't ride it because it's $25/person. Maybe next year (with a lot of convincing from Mean).


After this we rode the smaller of 2 Ferris wheels. I think this was meant for kids, but whatever.


Then there was the petting zoo. I finally got to go to one after seeing them in US movies and TV shows.


Time to eat. Of course we have to have a hotdog. The other one's a candy apple.


What do you do after eating? Ride the Fireball of course!

Yeah, little girl.

Mean wanted to ride the Carousel. Not me :)


Time to ride the other Fireball. Mean was able to ride this 2 years ago. She really liked it and convinced me it would be fun. I hate her...

It was actually fun but when I got down, I needed to find a place to sit. I know, what a wuss.

I needed a break so we rode the big ferris wheel. It was meant to be a relaxing ride to relieve my dizziness but the idiot dad we were with was teasing his son by shaking the gondola. But yeah, I know, relieving dizziness by riding the ferris wheel isn't really smart.


After that, I no longer wanted to go on any "extreme" rides. I was dizzy and had a headache. I was feeling guilty since Mean still wanted to go. Well, she didn't let my wimpiness stop her from riding the Zipper. She would just have to find another person who was alone or the odd one out in a group because they didn't allow people alone in a compartment. Thankfully there was a guy right in front of us who was by himself. Apparently, all his friends were throwing up somewhere. He also didn't know about the 2 rider policy. Good for him and Mean.

That was the last ride. We were in the park for about 6-7 hours. However, we had to leave because of...

Bad Weather

While we were waiting in line, a guy was going around telling people that a thunderstorm was coming and there was a lot of wind, water and hail coming in about an hour. So we headed straight for the exits after the Zipper. We noticed there were 2 buses waiting outside which was strange. It turns out, Winnipeg Transit requested all "Not in Service" buses still on the road to proceed to the park due to the coming storm. And I think they were also about to shut down the park. It started raining a bit while we were on the bus, and it got worse as we reached the bus stop. Soon, the noise on the roof got louder. I could see mothball-like stuff dropping on a plant box outside. I guess this is hail. I've heard about hail in the Philippines but never new how it looked like. Thankfully, it seemed top be a mild introduction as they say there have been golf-ball sized hail in the past. Our bus finally arrived and we had to run under the rain with our damaged umbrella. Good thing the wind had died down or else the umbrella would surely have turned inside out. I was worried because we still had a 5 minute walk from the bus stop to our house. We would have to stay at the bus shelter for a bit if the weather was still bad. Lucky for us, by the time we reached our destination, it was only drizzling.

Well, this post got pretty long. Anyway, it was a great day. Hopefully next year, I won't be so wimpy so we could get on more rides. I'd also like to watch the shows they had there. Maybe also try some of the parlor games. And of course, I also wish the weather is much better then.

View Full Photo Album