After Niagara Falls we took a drive further north to Toronto in Canada. We got stuck in traffic (a theme for us) because Toronto had some Santa parade so the road to our hotel was actually closed but I think the hotel felt a bit sorry for us when we got there and upgraded our room to a fancy two bedroom suite. We took a walk through the city back to the dining in the dark restaurant O’Noir where Kim and I had eaten before and Bronte and Chris wanted to try out. It was even more fun this time because I got to stab my sister in the dark with a fork. We made buddies with the people at the next table and all compared notes of what we thought we were eating. I enjoyed my starter which I found out was mushrooms… which I hate… it took me 30 years to discover I don’t hate mushrooms.
After dinner we went to the top floor of our hotel that looked out over the city and got in the hot tub with some random Ukranian guys who offered us swigs of vodka from a water bottle… um… no… thanks. But they left and then we had the place to ourselves.
The next day we went to Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada.
They had a really cool walkway through a massive tank of sharks and turtles etc.
They had some scuba divers cleaning the tank which I thought were pretty funny as we traveled underneath them on a moving walkway.
Then we went through a load of jelly fish, wobbling about.
Then Bronte, Kimmy and I went crazy for the touch tank where we could pet the rays.
Then we mooched around a bit.
Bronte and Chris went to the CN Tower.
Kim and I found a fancy arcade/coffee shop and hung out before the long drive back to an Airbnb that Bronte had booked for us all in upstate New York.
It was pretty adorable.
It was all log cabin-y.
And decorated for Christmas.
The house was on a farm that had barn cats, one of them was especially friendly so we adopted him for the night. We called him Heathcliff and I was very temped to steal him but he seemed to enjoy frolicking about outside with his many brothers and sisters.
The farm also had some deer we visited.
But I was mainly sold on the trillions of kittens we kept spotting everywhere.
The house was in the middle of nowhere and there were some Mennonite neighbours who drove a horse and buggy.
When we got back to Connecticut the next day we were all worn out and had a gingerbread house building contest.
hayleyiraina 