Goodbye Niagara

For the previous two mornings, we had some interesting conversations over breakfast with the other guests - two American couples from Michigan - discussing subjects like the 1812 war (when the USA invaded Canada), cycling routes and where we would like to live in the world if money was no object.  This morning, there were two new couples at breakfast and we quickly discovered that one pair had returned from cruising the Alaska coast just a week ago, on exactly the same ship which will carry us.  What a coincidence!  Fortunately, they had a wonderful experience.

We visited the small, but impressive, historical museum in Niagara this morning, learning more about the invasion, which impacted greatly on the town since, in May 1813, the town was burned down and posed for photos afterwards!

Next stop was the apothecary "museum" which depicts a pharmacy of 1869, with a mass of pills, potions and posters, as well glassware, utensils and that unique aroma.

 The bicentenary has prompted a series of re-enactments, one of which took place as we were in the town centre, where the US soldiers tried to persuade a generally unimpressed (and in some cases, hostile) contingent of locals that they were friends and meant no harm.

Once again, many thanks to Phil and Chris for their thoughtful planning and being kind hosts.  

We had thought that purchasing the bus tickets from St Catharine's in advance would ensure that we would be able to give our hosts in Toronto a specific time of arrival.  Not so.  Although we arrived in good time, only a handful of people were selected to take their seats, while the rest of the moderately large queue had to wait for an hour for the next one.  Grrr!

Once in Toronto, though, we were given a great welcome by Damien, Indrani, Anusha and Aiden.  They live in a lovely spot, close to the Greek area, where we were able to sample some Greek food this evening.