We left on a morning flight out of IAH, Houston, Tx airport for a nice relatively short flight to Toronto, Canada on August 31st.   This was going to be Genia's first trip to anywhere in Canada where the vacation was about seeing the beautiful city of Toronto and visiting Niagara Falls.  The last time I was in Toronto was a family vacation during the summer of 1975 where my family drove from Houston, Tx all the way up the east coast of the United States, and then up to Toronto where we visited Niagara Falls along the way.

Our lodging for the trip was the historical and beautiful King Edward Hotel that is located in downtown Toronto, which was conveniently located to all the attractions that we wanted to see and experience.  Everyday, we walked everywhere with exception of Uber ride to a museum.

Thursday, August 31st - Toronto

Friday, September 1st - Exploring and the Museum of Illusion

Saturday, September 2nd - Niagara Falls Tour: Wine College, Niagara Falls, Niagara On the Lake City

My impression and memories of Niagara Falls in 1975 still remain very clear in my mind, where the difference now was the overwhelming commercialization of the Falls' area with numerous Hotels, apartment dwellings and numerous touristy shops and restaurants.  Walking on the Canadian and American sides were very crowded.  The restaurant that our tour group had lunch at, had waiting staff that said that the Falls are always crowded with exception in the coldest parts of the year and heavy rain. That does not mean the Falls are not a great site to visit, just unfortunate that there so many tourists that over crowding occurs.

Sunday, September 3rd - Exploring, CN Tower and Keith's Birthday

The 3rd is my birthday so we planned on having a nice dinner with a spectacular view at the CN Tower, which Genia had bought tickets ahead of time for the  the elevator ride.  The view was spectacular and well worth the visit.  Before going to CN Tower, we took a Uber Ride to Casa Loma, and had a wonderful tour of the majestic castle home.

Monday, September 4th - Harbor Front, Hockey Hall of Fame, and Walk about town

First thing Genia and I did was walk down to the harbor area, which is a very beautiful area with lots of places to shop, eat and even see some entertainment. 

After visiting the harbor, we saw the Hockey Hall of Fame which is a wonderful excursion to go and see.  I grew up in Houston and in my teenage years, my Canadian uncle Doug took me and my brother to see the Houston Aeros Hockey Team play almost every game for two seasons, which had Gordie Howe with his two sons playing on the team.  The Aeors won two trophies in 1974 and 1975 where I was present to see them.  My Uncle's family were at the time living in Calgary, Canada where my uncle was partially living in Houston for a while before they all moved down to Houston. 

It was interesting that when Genia and  I were at the St Lawrence Market, there was man in his 60s years of age having a discussion about a famous Hockey player with his friend who was the cashier at a store I was waiting in line behind him.  He showed his friend a collectable trading card along saying he got to speak to the player recently.  At some point, this man turned around and said to me, "I bet you know him?", and I replied "sorry but the only great hockey player that I liked is Gordie Howe", where the man turned to his friend and said "you have an awesome customer, treat him well." 

Gordie Howe is considered the greatest all-around player of all-time even if Wayne Gretzky eventually broke Gordie's records.  In my opinion the strategies in all major sports has changed to favor the star players to achieve more and break records because of the money on tickets, TV, Pay-Per-View, endorsements, apparel sales and much more that requires the marquee players to get higher stats with the other team's players acquiescing to assist the star players achieve goals.  I would be that in a head-to-head game, with both Howe and Gretzky in their prime, the game would show Howe the more complete and better player.

Tuesday, September 5th - ROM Museum

We a nice forty minute walk from our hotel to the museum which had us going through many parks and nice shopping areas along with seeing the Legislative Assembly of Ontario building and campus area.  We spent many hours seeing the exhibits and below are only a few samples of the areas to see at the museum.

Wednesday, September 6th - Walking around town and then flight home

We got up early to walk to some areas we hadn't got a chance to see which included the Nathan Philips Square, where there was also a Farmers' Market area in the park.  We purchased some fruits that we brought back to snack on mid-morning and also put in our suit cases for home.