Big Cities and Bigger Waterfalls in Ontario

Ontario

Kingston

Our first stop in Ontario was technically at a Planet Fitness, where we took the very-much-anticipated first shower of about a week (not for lack of trying, as we had been searching endlessly for showers in Quebec to no avail) before continuing on to a city that was primarily to break up what would’ve been a six hour drive between Montreal and Toronto. Thus, we found ourselves in the city of Kingston on the coast of Lake Ontario.

Kingston City Hall and one of four Shoal Towers that stood in Kingston’s harbor (a second can be seen in the distance). The towers were built to protect the entrance to the Rideau Canal, which earned UNESCO status for being the best preserved example of an early 19th century canal

A day and night was enough to visit the city, where we followed our standard formula of walking around the downtown, reading the ample signage about the history of the area (focused on Kingston’s claim to fame as the first capital city of united Canada - a title it held for only three years from 1841 to 1844), then retreating to the car to cook dinner and prepare for the next day.

---

Toronto

A couple more hours on the road brought us to the megalopolis of Toronto, Canada’s largest city with nearly three million beating hearts. Anticipating a few days in the city, we ended up only staying only two after finding that we didn’t like it nearly as much as its French-speaking neighbors to the north.

Graffiti Alley was one of the cooler stops in town. Fueled by an initiative to reduce graffiti vandalism in the city by designating a space for pre-approved street art, the 1/2 kilometer alleyway is completely covered in paint from start to finish.

Nonetheless, we took in much that the city has to offer on our long daily walks, with highlights being Graffiti Alley, Kensington Market (where we ate some fantastic tacos and got a feel for the multicultural background of the city), Fort York (which was taken by the Americans during the War of 1812 and gave us a good history of a war we previously knew little about), and the CN tower.

Clockwise from top left is Yonge-Dundas Square (Times Square of Toronto), Fort York, Old City Hall, street art in Kensington Market, and a dog park fountain

We visited an array of other neighborhoods, with West Queen West sticking out as the favorite, but the overall grittiness, lack of character, and big metallic city vibes left us largely unimpressed, and so after two days we hopped in the van and continued south. Sorry for any Toronto lovers out there!

The CN Tower is visible from all over town - we didn’t really get a scale for just how tall it was when standing right under it. When viewed from far away, you can see it towering over all the surrounding buildings!

---

Niagara

Our final stop in Ontario and Canada as a whole was Niagara, the small town that’s home to the most famous waterfall in North America and maybe the world. The Vegas-style downtown area adjoining the falls left us a little unenthused, but the falls were anything but.

Made up of three separate falls – American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Horseshoe Falls – we spent hours gawking both during the day and later at night, in awe of their powerful beauty and the sheer volume of water gushing over them (675,000 gallons per second at Horseshoe Falls alone!).

At night the falls are illuminated by lights, changing colors based on current events or the requests of charities.

We saw the falls illuminated in rainbow colors for Pride Month, blue and yellow in support of Ukraine, and blue, white, & teal for a charity for the blind. It was a lot of fun and an experience that most day-tripping visitors miss!

We had gotten multiple recommendations to make sure we saw the falls from the Canadian side (as the Niagara River makes up the USA/Canada border) and were happy we did, as most of the falls actually fall from the American side, meaning the prime viewing location is across the river in Canada.

Horseshoe Falls, the largest and most iconic of the three that make up Niagara Falls

On the left is American Falls and the small separate falls on the right is Bridal Veil. Fantastic view from the Canadian side!

While in Niagara, we also visited the Niagara History Museum, where we learned about the intertwined history of the Canadian city and the falls; our favorite section of the museum was learning about the daredevils who have gone over the falls in a barrel (a woman being the first!) or tight-roped from one side to the other.

Testing out the old school weaponry from the War of 1812 in the Niagara History Museum - we were shocked by the weight of these things!

After a night at a Walmart outside town, we drove across the border and back into the familiar U.S. of A. to the same-named town of Niagara. The odometer read nearly 6,000, meaning we logged a total of 3,000 miles in the Great White North.