clueless in toronto

okay, so we're now in toronto. however, it's all getting slightly tricky remembering not only what day it is (we don't have eastenders here - the universal indicator for which day of the week it is) but also where we are and where we're heading. we got up early(ish) for the bus today and rach was thoroughly stumped when boarding the bus and the bus driver asked us where we were getting off.

toronto appears to be very different to montreal. i had a wander to old montreal yesterday and it was absolutely beautiful. it was like being in some old french or italian town with narrow streets and an open square and lots of market stalls. we watched some of the world cup final in a bar. everyone was supporting france, what with it being french quebec, but then when italy won a load of italian supporters came out of the woodwork and it was great watching them all driving round town, hanging out of the windows with their flags and beeping their horns. a very different horn-blowing to new york. montreal is a very nice town. it's not at all polished in a touristy way. there are some grotty buildings and everything. but there's also some really beautiful bits and it just seems like a really cool, chilled out place. definitely one to visit, kids.

and so to toronto, which is much more of a metropolis than montreal. we've arrived but, given that none of us have bought the canada lonely planet, we don't really know what we're doing. zoe, what did ant do here? we've noticed a great big tower thus far but that's about it. i have set to work gathering leaflets about the place, in a dad-like fashion. in fact, i've found myself turning into my dad during this trip, what with map reading and researching places and trying to cater for everyone. is this what happens when left to ones own devices? do we all just morph into our parents eventually?

another question: what is the capital of canada? embarrassingly, we've all realised we don't actually know. we were debating it in an annoying fashion on the bus. we must have looked like right divs. not doing much for the reputation of brits abroad. oops. it was quite surreal when arriving into toronto, though. we went through whitby, scarborough, todmorden. it was just like being in britain anyway.

so we're going to have an early night tonight. we have the luxury of a tv in our room. i don't quite know how we've skanked that so we're going to make the most of it and just veg out. i think we shall just then have a wander about toronto tomorrow. we're here until thursday and then we move on to niagara falls until saturday. we've been dead organised and already booked it. apparently the place where we're staying is almost next to the falls so we shall have to be careful if we've had a drink. or else hope superman is about...