Niagara Falls and Toronto

We drove up to Toronto and passed through Niagara Falls on the way. The falls were very pretty. We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott in downtown Toronto on Friday and Saturday night. We saved money thru priceline, but not as much as the guy we met in the elevator who only paid $35/night. I'm still happy with priceline, but the bad thing about their service is they don't give you a receipt that itemizes the taxes and service fees, so you have nothing to send the Canadian gov't to get the GST back. Since the hotel had already billed priceline, the only bill I got from them was for the parking ($20/night). Oh well, for the amount of money we paid in taxes for two nights it's not worth working hard to resolve it, but I'll know the next time I go to Canada.

On Friday night, we had Thai food at The ONE Thai. I really like my Pho Seafood noodle bowl. After dinner we played some pool at VIP Lounge & Billiards Club. Then we went to the club Guvernment and had a blast. On Saturday, we went to the Hockey Hall of Fame. After browsing around the Eaton Center (see pic) and taking a nap back at the hotel, we went to see the play "Hello Again" at the Tarragon Theater. Then we had a late dinner at a small restaurant called Insomnia that we really liked. The DJ played house music. That combined with the dim lights and easy chairs created a very cool, intimate, laid back, and sophisticated (but not pretentious) atmosphere. I enjoyed the penne arabiatta. Barb had an apple and squash soup and then a green salad. On Sunday, we ate an awesome breakfast at Fran's diner. Turns out this was the original location of this chain, that went bankrupt and is now coming back. The waffles were great. The trip home took us 7 HOURS! It took 4 hrs just to get the border because the Q.E.W. was so packed with people coming back from Canada Day. All in all, this was a great 3 day weekend trip.