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Exploring The City Of Hong Kong

Posted on November 15, 2010

My original plan for coming to Hong Kong was to use the first afternoon to plan and book some activities. However, with the delay in the flight leaving London, I arrived much later than expected. So after finishing up with breakfast, I stopped by the tour desk at the hotel to see what might be possible. I found out it is possible to book onto tours at relatively late notice and soon had my name down for a tour.

Hong Kong City Tour

The tour that I booked even though the brochure made it sounds good, I knew was going to be a little sales focused. It is better to get driven around with a guide sharing some information, but the focus was on sales at two of the last stops.

Victoria Peak

The first stop was one that I had wanted to visit but was not quite sure how I would go about getting there. It was at Victoria Peak, which is located on Hong Kong Island. From here depending on the pollution level of the day you can see across Victoria Harbour to Kowloon. Considering what the haze could be like, I am told this is a reasonably good day.

Traditional Floating Fishing Village

The next stop is where I, found a little deviation from what the brochure indicated. It suggested that you could see a traditional floating fishing village in the pamphlet. In reality, to see the floating village, you needed to pay an additional $55 Hong Kong Dollars. For this, you could board a Sampan for a 20-minute ride to see the village.

Without taking the trip on the Sampan, there is very little to see at this stop. There is a view to the nearby JUMBO Floating Restaurant, and nothing much else. I am not sure that many people were happy about the additional cost, but most paid it.

Jewellery Factory

The next stop was more disappointing than the last. The brochure described the visit to a small local industry and seeing how they make the handmade jewellery. Admittedly being a Sunday, I maybe should not have expected a lot.

The process went as follows, at the factory we started in a small presentation room. They gave a short two-minute presentation about the methods they use before describing their three latest designs. We then get to pass a work room where one worker is crafting a piece of jewellery we cannot see. Before finally entering a showroom, which is larger than the work room with about a dozen people ready to help us buy something.

Stanley Markets

The last stop on the tour I was quite happy with, and it was a place I had planned to visit anyway. It was nice to get a chance to walk around and see what was available. However, it is also a place that you do not want just to visit hoping to find something. It is best if you know what you want and you are ready to buy. For me not knowing what I would find here made it hard to plan in advance. So in the end, I did not get to buy anything.

I am glad that I took the tour and got to see a couple of places around Hong Kong. But I am quite disappointed in the tour myself; it is on par price was with the other tours I took. However, other tours I have taken don’t usually focus on selling you something, and often include some sort of entrance to an attraction. I suppose it is likely a case of different countries and different cultures approaching things differently.

Hong Kong History Museum

Once I arrived back at the hotel, I decided to find out how to get to the History Museum. It is something that I had been suggested as a place to visit and to take a look at an exhibit called “The Hong Kong Story.”

The entrance price is just $10 HKD, which is very reasonable considering how extensive the exhibit is here. The exhibit takes you through the stages right from the geological formation of the area to settlement. Including information about British handing back control of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and everything in between.

I did not have time to visit everything in the exhibit, but it is a stop worth making if you are visiting Hong Kong. If I had more time or return to Hong Kong it is somewhere I would return again.

A Symphony Of Lights

The last stop for the day was to watch a show that is a must-see in Hong Kong. The “A Symphony of Lights” show is a free show that is played out in the sky above and on the buildings surrounding Victoria Harbour. The show includes lasers, lights, and spotlights timed to music and runs for about 15 minutes. I understand the show is in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest light show.

Harbour City Shopping Centre

On my way back to the hotel from Victoria Harbour, I made a stop at the Harbor City Shopping Centre. Even though it is just the middle of November, they are getting ready for Christmas here. With some great displays set up including a lot of baubles and lights. It was not the easiest spot to get photos with the hundreds of people in the area.

There are two more days in Hong Kong for me before heading home to Brisbane. I have booked another tour tomorrow called “The Land Between Tour.” It is a tour that has come recommended by a family member who lives in Hong Kong, so kept the booking. However, if I did not have the recommendation I might have considered cancelling it after this mornings tour. I will have to see just how it is tomorrow and look forward to sharing more from Hong Kong with you tomorrow.

Destinations

Travel Day – London To Hong Kong

Posted on November 14, 2010

Today I have travelled from London to Hong Kong or the first leg of getting towards home. However, there was still a couple of hours this morning to take a walk. I headed into Kensington Gardens, which are connected to Hyde Park. I did not want to venture too far as the sky was overcast and wet clothes when heading to the airport is not ideal.

Kensington Gardens

There were a few interesting spots as I walked through Kensington Gardens. I spotted Royal Albert Hall, a lake with ducks and some statues.

Another feature that caught my eye was drawn to is the Albert Memorial. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert who died of typhoid in 1861.

Getting To The Airport

Getting to the airport turned out to be a much more involved than I imagined. The London subway system is overcrowded if nothing else. I left the hotel about 10 am expecting to be at the airport around quarter to eleven. Unfortunately, unlike the trip into town from the airport, it took close to an hour and a half. The biggest problem was queuing for a ticket, which took half an hour alone.

The Joy Of Flying

Even allowing for the delay in getting to the airport I had allowed plenty of time to get something to eat. I had expected little chance to eat lunch if I did not do so before leaving London. There was a 40-minute flight to Frankfurt, followed by a one hour stop over.

In the end, the flight to Frankfurt was delayed by 45 minutes, resulting in a missed connection to Hong Kong. It was not a big deal in the end, as Lufthansa rebooked me through to Hong Kong with a quick stop in Zurich. The only problem was a 2 hour stop over in Frankfurt, plus a flight to Zurich, before the flight to Hong Kong.

The flight from Frankfurt to Zurich turned out to be an interesting one. Originally it was delayed due to a storm in Zurich. However, we took off and soon we were landing in Zurich in a storm. The turbulence landing was probably the worst I have experienced. With the plane being shaken around like a box of Tic Tacs.

The dash from landing at Zurich to board the flight Hong Kong was quick. If you have ever tried finding a gate in an airport, you are not familiar with you will understand. I had to get from one terminal to another, via airport subway. Coming across a passport control point, not sure if it was the right way. But in the end arriving to be the second last to board the plane.

To Hong Kong

Finally, onboard the flight from Zurich to Hong Kong and I could relax. I got to watch a movie or two, but not too impressed with the Swiss Air onboard entertainment system. It very much lacked in choice compared to some of the other airlines I have travelled on this trip. I did take a chance to sleep a little bit of sleep but not a lot.

So I have now arrived into Hong Kong, only maybe three hours later than I expected. It truly does seem to be a city that doesn’t sleep. Even at 11 pm, there are people everywhere and plenty of traffic.

I have three days in Hong Kong and will be looking to make the most of my time. Unfortunately, there have not been a lot of pictures today. However, I suppose it would have been mostly airports and planes, and that is not very interesting.

Destinations

Exploring The City Of London

Posted on November 11, 2010

Today London has offered up a wealth of great sights and a mixture of good and bad weather. Just to make things interesting, the weather tried to catch me out at the most inopportune times. The morning was mostly overcast with some periods of light rain. But the afternoon got a bit more interesting.

Touring London

London is a rather large and spread out city and as such not the easiest to get around. Doing so by foot is possible, but I choose to take the hop-on-hop-off bus today. The motivation was partially due to such limited time I had in London and a little with the weather.

Unfortunately, the combination of being the bus and the weather did not translate into the best photos. However, I have captured a couple of the attractions that London is famous for. I will share the shots, but London is a city that I will want to return in the future and explore much deeper.

Big Ben

City Hall

Houses of Parlement

London Eye

Public Art – Ship In A Bottle

London – Tower Bridge

Around half way around the loop of the hop-on-hop-off tour, I took the opportunity to do a little on foot. It is at this point that I was near to Tower Bridge, a spot I wanted to visit. The bridge was completed in the late 1800’s and still looks quite impressive.

There is an opening roadway to allow large boats to pass underneath. There are also two elevated walkways which would enable people to walk across while the roadway was open. The walkways got little use and subsequently were closed. That is until they were reopened as an exhibition covering the history of the bridge. You also get a good view in both directions along the Thames River.

The Tower Of London

The Tower Of London is located not too far from Tower Bridge and is another location I wanted to visit. Construction on The Tower of London started around the 11th century by William the Conquer. Although I wanted to visit time was not available and just got a picture from the outside.

London Traffic

The traffic here is terrible and saw it take over an hour to get back to the hotel. Which combined with missing the other stop for the day due to a torrential downpour.

So I made some changes to the plan for the day. I had wanted to walk from Hyde Park back to the hotel this afternoon. However, with the rain, I decided on returning to the hotel and exploring some more indoor options.

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is a huge building, and to my surprise entirely free to enter. It makes for a rather good wet weather activity. It could be very easy to lose a whole day exploring all of the exhibitions here.

Harrods Department Store

After my visit to the Natural History Museum with some better weather, I continued my walk. Not to much further and I found the famous Harrods Department Store. I took a short look around the store, but think this turned out to be a bad choice.

By the time that I was heading back to the hotel, the weather had turned yet again. The wind had picked up, and the rain had started light but got heavier. So I was a bit wet by the time I got back to the hotel.

Even with the bad weather I enjoyed my time in London today. I think in the future a little more time to allow for bad weather will be better. But even though I will be leaving London tomorrow afternoon, I hope to see a bit more in the morning.

Destinations

Dover To London And Charles Darwin House

Posted on November 10, 2010

Today my time was a little tighter than previous days. I was due to return the rental car to Heathrow Airport around 2.30pm. However, I still had about three stops that I wanted to make. These included Rochester Castle, Lullingstone Roman Villa and the home of Charles Darwin.

Rochester Castle

The first stop this morning was another castle. I may have seen a few castles in the last few days, but they do not seem to get old. They are all different, some are no more than an outline on the ground, with some almost entirely intact.

Rochester Castle is more towards the intact end of the scale. However, inside you can still see that it is significantly deteriorated from years of disuse. There is enough structure left to allow you to explore almost to the very top. Once you are up there the views are great in every direction.

Below are a couple of other photos from Rochester Castle. The first is the original gatehouse, which has seen better days but is still in use to access the castle. The second is a photo from inside Rochester Castle.

Lullingstone Roman Villa

I made a brief stop at Lullingstone Roman Villa. It is very similar to the Roman Palace that I stopped at yesterday. There has been quite an extensive floor plan uncovered at this site with a large central mosaic. Ther have also been many partial walls that help to fill out the floor plan of this Villa. The villa itself is almost 2000 years old, but the mosaics are the most interesting aspects.

Charles Darwin House

The final stop before heading towards London is the home of Charles Darwin. There was no photography allowed inside, but I still got some great shots in the garden and outside the house.

The entire ground floor of the home has been restored to how it would have looked when Charles Darwin lived in the house. A range of photos and notes have been used to make this possible.

The house is where Charles Darwin based himself for undertaking many of his experiments. Along with where he did most of his writing for many of his books. Charles Darwin worked closely with both animals and plants and as such the house has an extensive garden. There have been efforts made to maintain the garden as it might have appeared when Charles Darwin lived here. However, this has been done through the notes that were taken by his wife, as it was primarily her domain.

Into London

After my visit to the home of Charles Darwin, it was time to head for London. I got the rental car returned and figured my way from Heathrow to the Kensington Gardens area where my hotel is.

While I took a short walk this afternoon, I did not get much time to look around between the rain. So I am hoping for some better weather tomorrow to explore the area some more. Plus of course to get some photos to share with you.

Destinations

Portsmouth To Dover And Portchester Castle

Posted on November 9, 2010

Today started with a plan, and I must say things worked out a little bit better. Except for some bad weather this morning I got to everything I planned to today. But of course, bad weather is something to be expected around these parts I am finding. So let’s take a look at Southsea Castle, D-Day Museum, Portchester Castle and Box Grove Priory.

Southsea Castle

Since I stayed in Portsmouth last night, I decided to make a quick stop at Southsea Castle this morning. Being the winter season, there are many English Heritage sites that are closed currently. Southsea Castle is one of them, but I thought I could still take a little look from the outside.

Southsea Castle is quite a small castle and appears to be more a coastal defence or lookout. There are quite a number of cannons around the top of the walls on display. There is also another museum close by, the D-Day Museum, which I was too early to visit today. However, they have some old tanks on display out the front.

Portchester Castle

The next stop for the morning was a visit to Portchester Castle. On the way, I spotted a sign for some nearby church ruins. The ruins were of the Royal Garrison Church in Portsmouth. The ruins are much more complete than I was expecting. They almost look like you could put a roof on and windows and have a complete church.

On the way from the church ruins to Portchester Castle, the weather decided to turn for the worst. It started to rain, and I got a little wet getting into Portchester Castle. The bad weather also meant that some of the castle was closed for safety.

Even with the bad weather I still made the most of my visit. There are sections of Portchester Castle that date back as early as the 3rd century. One of the most impressive parts is the almost entirely intact original outer wall.

There is also quite a lovely church on the site of Portchester Castle. It still appears to be used today and is kind of interesting in itself.

Roman Palace

After leaving Porchester Castle, the weather improved slightly, but it was still raining. So I was glad that my next stop was indoors. I headed to what used to be a relatively large and grand Roman Palace.

The palace, for the most part, is gone. However, on this site, they have found many artefacts and detailed mosaics. Some of the mosaics are quite complicated and they are made from very small tiles of maybe 1cm x 1cm. But they cover the entire area of what would have been the floors that are maybe 2 x 3m. So you can imagine the time that must have gone into making them.

Box Grove Priory

The next destination for the day was Box Grove Priory. There are two buildings on the site. The first I visited is a ruin and once was the guest range of the priory. Being a ruin there is not a whole lot to detail about the building. However, it is possible to walk through the outer walls.

The second building is a church. Found in 1105 as a monastic church and still, operates today as the parish church. The church does interest me more, the exterior is a beautiful old building. But the interior, in my opinion, is even more beautiful. There is extensive stained glass windows and stonework gives a great atmosphere.

Battle

My last stop of the day was in the town of Battle. There are two pieces of history that I am visiting here, which are both in the one places. The first is the Battlefield wherein 1066 the Battle of Hastings took place. A very important date and location in English history where the Normans defeated the English in just one day.

The second piece of history is Battle Abbey, which was built as penance for the bloodshed of this day. The building itself is quite large and sits an imposing site on top of the hill.

An audio tour takes you through what happened in the battle and the magnitude of the win for the Normans. They effectively had the lower ground the whole way through the fight and yet still came out on top.

The site did initially also include quite a large cathedral. However, this was unfortunately destroyed at some point in the past. The Gatehouse to Battle Abbey though still stands and is quite an impressive sight when you are approaching.

On To Dover

Today turned out to be a full day, getting to four different heritage sites. With the bad weather this morning the traffic was not great, but I still am happy with the results today. England has to be one of the best countries for seeing historical places that I have visited. Although there is not a lot of comparison for me to date.

Tomorrow will be my last day in the countryside as I make my way back to London. I can already tell that I will want to return to England, as there is so much more to explore.

Destinations

Plymouth To Portsmouth And Babbacombe Model Village

Posted on November 8, 2010

The day started today seeing, just how far off I was in my estimation yesterday. It turns out from my hotel in Plymouth to Dartmouth Castle is around an hours drive. The castle is open on weekends at this time of year, but unfortunately, today is a weekday. Below is a photo of Dartmouth Castle, but with the sun still rising it is more a silhouette. The day ended much better than it started with a visit to Babbacombe Model Village and Old Sarum Castle.

English Church

Today it was a little easier to stop at a couple of spots along the way and get a photo or two. One place was passing a church, which I believe was called St Peter’s but cannot recall the exact location. It is one of the first places that has caught my eye and had a convenient place to park for a photo.

Babbacombe Model Village

If you have been reading since I started this blog you might know that I like models and miniatures. In the past, I visited a Replica Tudor Village in Melbourne and a Miniature Museum in Victoria, Canada. As I was driving I spotted a sign for Babbacombe Model Village. It was not out of the way and I decided to make the small detour and take a look.

I was very happy with my choice to stop and visit Babbacombe Model Village. There is just such a wide range of models, with some excellent detail. From houses to buildings, businesses and just about everything in between.

The Babbacombe Model Village covers around 4 acres of land and it is around 1km fro walk around. The village contains a lot of houses, a petrol station, main street full of stores, Stonehenge and a model railway. But that is not all there is a castle, sports stadium, dragon and castle, and some 13,000 figurines. I spent around an hour exploring Babbacombe Model Village, but easily could have spent the whole day. It is places like this that you just find new little details every time you walk around.

Many of the models are based on places and events from the past five decades. Babbacombe Model Village was originally opened in 1963, and well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Old Sarum Castle

Old Sarum Castle is not too far from Salisbury and is one of the earliest sites settled in the area. Today though the location is not much more than a dirt mound surrounded by dry moats. But the mound with partial ruins of the castle still does stand as an imposing part of the landscape. Unfortunatly, after being disused hundreds of years ago, the castle was demolished and sold off for building materials. All that remains is the base of some of the walls of the castle.

The mound on which the castle say is around 400m long by 360m wide. With the view from the top of the mound quite spectacular over the surround lands. It would definitely have been a difficult spot to approach without being seen if you were to attack the castle.

There is also another ruin present on this site, that of a Cathedral. All that is visible of these ruins is the footing of the building. From what I can see this would have been a vast Cathedral even by today’s standards. There are bigger Cathedral’s now, but for the time it would have been very large.

On To Portsmouth

Today turned out to be quite an enjoyable day especially enjoying the visit to Babbacombe Model Village. From Old Sarum Castle, it was on to my hotel in Portsmouth and to find a stop for dinner. I found a great spot next door to the hotel for dinner and enjoy the Mixed Grill; I hope the photo does not make you hungry.

Destinations

Devizes To Plymouth And Old Wardour Castle

Posted on November 7, 2010

As I left the hotel this morning I had sort of a plan formed in my mind. The first part worked out well in the morning, with a visit to two locations, Caen Hill Locks and Old Wardour Castle. However, in the afternoon it did not quite go to plan exactly.

Interesting Sights

There were a couple of interesting sites today. One I spotted while driving through the countryside, was a large sign where a dirt road crossed a Bitumen road. The Sign read, “Warning Tanks Crossing”, I may have stopped for a photo but it was not a very practical location.

The second was my first stop for the morning just near to Devizes. The site is Caen Hill Locks and is a series of 29 lock gates. The series of locks allows boats to traverse the canal which has a rather significant change in elevation at this point. The photo below is from the top of the lock gates. The bottom is a better view but there is very limited places to stop here.

English Countryside

While driving I have been heavily relying on the GPS unit I got with the car. I would have had no hope of getting far without it I think. However, it does also result in some interesting choices. An example is when I arrived at this gate with the GPS suggesting the route was to travel through this gate. It is quite an interesting landmark, but also does not appear to be a public road.

Although I followed the GPS through the gate, it is a difficult part of driving in England. I just never knew if I was on a public or private road, often finding myself on small single lane country laneways. I managed to make it to Old Wardour Castle in the end, and the GPS was spot on getting me there.

Old Wardour Castle

Old Wardour Castle while far from complete has much more remaining than Farleigh Hungerford Castle. There was again an audio tour here, and it is much more realistic when you have walls around you. As opposed to trying to imagine the walls from the footprint of the castle.

The audio tour takes you around the castle and inside to explore the ruins. All the time explaining where you would have been and what the particular area you are in would have been used for. It does give you a feeling for what living here might have been like. There is enough of the ruins been made safe to climb the stairs to what would have been the fourth floor.

From the above image, it does look like Old Wardour Castle is in significant disrepair. However, this is somewhat hard to tell from the image. There are numerous rooms you can still walk through, and as mentioned portions of the uppermost floor still intact.

There is another feature on the site as well which is quite interesting to explore. The Grotto sits opposite the main entrance to the castle on the hillside. The stones look to a large degree to be placed haphazardly, however they do sort of form small areas. There are a number of small walkways and hollows in the stone work with seats in.

Onward To Plymouth

Originally I had planned to visit Dartmouth Castle in the afternoon today. However, there was one thing that I had not allowed for. The drive time between places in England can be quite significant at times.

While there are highways and such between places. There is also plenty of places that are off the beaten path. Especially when you are visiting old heritage sights it would seem. I might have left Old Wardour Castle at 11.30am. However, by the time I had found some lunch and arrived in Plymouth it was late afternoon.

It turns out that there were two problems in visiting Dartmouth Castle. The first was that I made the false assumption it was close to my hotel in Plymouth. The second I had not correctly checked the opening times and it was not open at this time of year. Anyway, I might be able to share a picture of the castle tomorrow.

Destinations

Amesbury To Devizes And Stonehenge

Posted on November 6, 2010

After arriving late in the day yesterday, I spent almost 2 hours driving from London to Amesbury. The reason to drive to Amesbury last night was to get a good start on my time in England. Amesbury is about as close as you can get a hotel to Stonehenge, which is where I started my day. With the rest of the day spent visiting some other historic sites as I travelled to Wiltshire.

Stonehenge

When I put England on my itinerary, Stonehenge was a definite must do for me. I do not know what motivated me to decide on renting a car. But I can tell you for this one stop being so close in the morning is a huge benefit.

I arrived at Stonehenge at the opening time of 9.30 with a handful of other people. As you approach on the road, you do capture your first glimpse of the ring of stones. However, being able to stand a short distance from Stonehenge, is an entirely different experience.

Part of the entry is an audio tour that shares a lot of the history of the site. It is very interesting to hear about the history while you are in the presence of Stonehenge. Plus you think that you have heard about Stonehenge, but there is always something new you might have missed.

It took around an hour in all to walk around, get some photos and listen to the audio tour. Unfortunately, as you might imagine the photos barely do the site justice. Seeing Stonehenge for yourself is an amazing experience if you ever get the chance.

The timing, in the end, was perfect. As I was leaving at 10.30, there was a stream of tour buses arriving full of people on day tours from London. For me, this reinforced my choice of staying nearby overnight and visiting Stonehenge early.

Farleigh Hungerford Castle

After leaving Stonehenge, the general direction I was travelling was towards Bath. However, at Stonehenge, I collected some more information about English Heritage sites and decided to stop at a nearby castle.

The castle, or more accurately the ruins of the castle I visited is Farleigh Hungerford Castle. The remains of the castle are little more than the footprint of where the walls used to stand. Along with the outer wall, gatehouse and some other smaller outbuildings.

At this second stop, there was also an audio tour to guide me around the area. At this castle, it was an excellent way to see what was important without running around reading every sign. I do not intend to rush my visit to any stop, but I find the audio tour makes a visit much more efficient.

Another benefit I have found from the audio tours is that it helps to recreate the atmosphere of the site. They take advantage of much more description language and sounds to describe the area beyond what signs often do. You are guided through the footprint of the ruins and finish in the outbuildings.

Bath

Bath is a city that I have always wanted to visit, and it was only a short way off where I would be. Primarily there was a few photo stops that I wanted to make here. But unfortunately, it turned out to be near impossible even to stop anywhere near the city. I spent about an hour stuck in traffic looking for a parking spot, which was not restricted.

The city of Bath is just totally jammed with traffic, and people and buses. I honestly do not know how anyone can practically live here. In the end, I gave up and moved onto my final destination for the day.

Devizes

My final destination for the day was Devizes, where I had booked a room for the night. Arriving a little early I took an opportunity to visit the Wiltshire Heritage Museum. Here they had a small section with some additional detail about Stonehenge. It was interesting and expanded on my visit this morning, things like a model that shows the progression of the building.

The day has been very enjoyable, and I am so far glad that I rented a car to explore the countryside. I have already been able to see so much more than I expected. Although I find staying in one place and taking, tours can be good. Getting out and seeing the countryside for yourself can also be a great experience. If I had not been driving myself, I likely would have missed photos like the one above. I captured the photo on a bridge in Bradford-on-Avon.

Destinations

Travel Day – Toronto To London

Posted on November 5, 2010

Today is still a day in Toronto, but it is also a travel day as such. There was just one thing I wanted to do while in Toronto, and that was visit CN Tower. Anything else was just an extra, and I can always look at another stop to explore further in the future.

CN Tower

CN Tower was my first stop for the morning to get it checked off. The tower itself is home to the world’s highest public observation deck. Of course, if I was going up I decided it would be as high as I could get. If you are not keen on heights, the trip up is probably not for you, especially when you see how you get up.

The elevator takes 58 seconds from the ground to the first observation deck. The first hint that this is not for anyone that dislikes heights is the elevator floor. The floor is made up of two glass panels that you can see straight down the elevator shaft.

To get to the highest point, or otherwise named the skypod is another elevator. The skypod is another 38 floors above the main observation deck. You are around 400m above the ground here, and the views from here are quite spectacular.

Toronto Wander

After spending a couple of hours at CN Tower, I only had a couple of hours to get some lunch and go for a walk. Toronto has an excellent mixture of old and new buildings that sit in some contrast to each other. One example is the town hall. Below the first image is the old Town Hall, which you can see the new Town Hall to the left. The second image is the new Town Hall by itself.

There is some interesting sights to see around Toronto. There were two in particular that I missed getting photos but found kind of interesting. The first was a parking officer, giving a parking ticket to an armoured truck. The second was at a crossing when ten guys dressed in Grid Iron uniforms set up a play when the walking light came on.

A third interesting thing I was able to get a photo of, The Electronic Man. A statue made out of all old computer parts, photo below.

Travel Toronto To London

The day ended with getting to the airport to travel from Toronto to London. I had already booked the airport transfer bus, which takes around 45 minutes from Downtown to the airport.

The first flight left around 7.30pm from Toronto, flying to Frankfurt. The arrival was around 25 minutes early, which gave a little bit of spare time before the next flight. The second flight was the short trip from Frankfurt to London.

I had hoped to sleep on the plane between Toronto and Frankfurt, but that did not turn out to be successful. Of course, this meant that by the time I arrived into London I was rather tired. But still had the final leg of the journey today getting from London to Amesbury. If I had not already booked the hotel in Amesbury, I likely would have stopped at one much closer to London. However, I wanted to be close to my first stop in the morning.

The next few days in England I have a rental car and looking forward to sharing a few very interesting places.

Destinations

Niagara Falls Day Tour From Toronto

Posted on November 4, 2010

The choice to stop in Toronto is not much more than a way to avoid a long haul flight to Europe from Las Vegas. It works, but there is so much to see in the area, and I only have one full day. I decided to book a full day tour to visit Niagara Falls, a 9.5 hour round trip from Toronto.

Toronto To Niagara Falls

The tour made a couple of interesting stop along the way. The first which I did not think I would enjoy, but proved otherwise is a winery. The 20 Bees Wintery is a brief stop for a tasting (and of course purchasing is if you like.

I am not a wine drinker, and the reds and whites did not interest me too much. However, one that caught my taste buds is their icewine. There are certain conditions in winter that winemakers need to create Icewine. The grapes are harvested at night and only after being exposed to three consecutive days of temperatures of -8 or below. As a result, when the grapes get pressed they are near to frozen and only excrete 1-2 drops of the nectar from the grape. It results in a very sweet dessert wine; that is rather expensive. It takes around the same number of grapes to make 30 cases of wine.

Niagara On The Lake

Niagara On The Lake is a small historic village. The main street does not look to have had much change in 40-50 years. The array of stores along the street is quite an eclectic collection. There are varying goods from groceries to second-hand clothes, Christmas decorations and cafes. The stop was brief but well worth getting a chance to take a look at this beautiful little town.

Niagara Floral Clock

The final stop before heading to Niagara Falls is a Floral Clock. I had previously seen a floral clock when I visited Melbourne. However, I must say that this clock is a little more impressive than the one in Melbourne. The primary factor is the size, with this clock measuring 12 feet across.

Niagara Falls

Upon arrival at Niagara Falls, I have no other words to describe the scene it but spectacular. The falls are created by a 50-meter high rock face in a horseshoe shape that the water spills over. Almost 4 million cubic feet of water (110,000m³) fall over the crest line every minute on average.

As you approach Niagara Falls, you get the impression that it may be raining. Until you realise that the water crashing to the bottom of the waterfall is creating the mist. A result of the force it impacts and subsequently the mist being pushed up into the air.

The first stop at the falls is something called Behind The Falls. It is a viewing platform set at the bottom and just to the side of the falls. Thankfully raincoats are provided because the mist down here could quickly saturate you otherwise.

The greatest challenge I found at Niagara Falls was capturing a good photo. I think this will depend a lot on the conditions each day, as it was the mist which created the biggest challenge for me. If the wind had only been blowing the other way, there would have been some very different photos. However, one thing the mist creates is plenty of opportunities to photograph a rainbow.

Taking the time to see Niagara Falls was worth it. I would have liked to be able to explore more of Toronto, but of course, that just means I will need to return in the future. However, I am very glad that I had the opportunity to visit Niagara Falls.

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Hong Kong City Tour

Victoria Peak

Traditional Floating Fishing Village

Jewellery Factory

Stanley Markets

Hong Kong History Museum

A Symphony Of Lights

Harbour City Shopping Centre

Kensington Gardens

Getting To The Airport

The Joy Of Flying

To Hong Kong

Touring London

London – Tower Bridge

The Tower Of London

London Traffic

Natural History Museum

Harrods Department Store

Rochester Castle

Lullingstone Roman Villa

Charles Darwin House

Into London

Southsea Castle

Portchester Castle

Roman Palace

Box Grove Priory

Battle

On To Dover

English Church

Babbacombe Model Village

Old Sarum Castle

On To Portsmouth

Interesting Sights

English Countryside

Old Wardour Castle

Onward To Plymouth

Stonehenge

Farleigh Hungerford Castle

Bath

Devizes

CN Tower

Toronto Wander

Travel Toronto To London

Toronto To Niagara Falls

Niagara On The Lake

Niagara Floral Clock

Niagara Falls

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