E-Square

A few days ago, we visited the E-Square multiplex on University road. With Anaya, we were obviously not there for a movie. The food court was what we were going to check out.

The parking there took some time, but we got a good spot. Went straight to the Food Court level. There isn't much of a mall there. Just a few Hong Kong lane types stores and a Crossword. The food court is too good though. So much variety. All the restaurants there are owned by Mars. We had a Tandoori Paneer pizza and a Rava Dosa from the Dosa Diner outlet. There are also Roti, a Chinese spot, Just Around the Corner. Liked the variety very much!!! The pizza was so-so. The paneer did not seem like it was done in the tandoor and the price of Rs.140 for a six-inch pizza did not justify the overall taste. The Dosa, on the other hand, was very well prepared and very tasty. Anaya had a feast on the dosa :-) We then got some chat, which was also so-so. There were big, giant sandwiches being prepared, similar to the ones prepared at Mapro in Mahabaleshwar. Next time, I am gonna try the Mini masala idlis and the sandwich. Got a "Diet" Pepsi. Finding Diet soda is pretty hard. And it only comes in cans. We are so used to drinking diet, that regular tastes too sweet to me.

Niagara Falls - the first visit in September 2001

OK, here's the first of my write-ups. A visit to Niagara Falls in September of 2001.


Whew !!! Where should I start from? Lets start from Bloomington. We returned to Bloomington on monday morning at 5:00 am local time.Well, that's where we started from.

Thursday, Aug 30, Bloomington
We started from our home, went to Walmart and headed towards Buffalo. Buffalo is on the border of US. We had taken a day off on Friday so thatwe could stamp our Canadian visitor visas on Friday. The journey to Buffalo was 696 miles which would take us around 12 hrs. We had detailed and precise directions taken from Mapquest.com. We first headed towards Toledo, Ohio which was a stretch of 280 miles. There are many rest areas, gas stations and food outlets in between (atevery 30 miles). We stopped at one such food exit after 150 miles. Had some hot coffee which was YUCK. We had taken Chips and chivada along with us. Jitesh drove the first stretch of 2.5 hrs with Nadeem navigating. After that Sidharth took over and myself became the navigator. The highways are excellent here. The speed is also too much for comparison in India. 70 mph and you don't get below 60mph. Its a bit hard changing lanes at that speed, but our driver duo got used to it pretty quickly. The navigator also need to be on guard, lest one might miss a certain exit from the highway. If you did miss an exit, go ahead 10 miles, take the next exit and turn back. Exit is a road leading into a nearby city road. The highway does not run into the city. We went through Toledo, a big city, having a famous university where most Indians come for their MS (most from Pune MIT). At about 12midnight, we stopped at a food exit to have dinner. We had a Chicken Burger, which wasn't very nice, at a place named Hardees. We arrived in Buffalo at 6 am local time which is one hr ahead of Bloomington time. The pace in Buffalo was slow as there was construction going along. We checked into Days Inn and slept immediately.
Friday, Aug 31, Buffalo
Got up at 8:00 am. Did not bathe. Just got fresh and went straight to the Canadian Consulate. There was a heavy downpour outside. Somehow we managed to go there, with Jitesh bumping the car onto the sidewalk while turning. The consulate is situated in a 40 storeyed building called "One HSBC Center". There were about 70-80 people, mostly Indians and Asians, already there. We had already filled the necessay forms. So we got into the line immediately. We had to wait for an hour and a half to pay the fees after which we got our Canadian visa stamped. We had not checked out of the hotel and we did not have the directions to go back. Its not easy just reversing the directions as there are a lot on one ways. We circled the consulate twice and then decided to ask someone. A man had a road map with him. He gave us the directions and somehow we managed to get to Days Inn before the checkout time. After checking out, we went to an Indian restuarant called "Indian Clay Oven"for lunch. It was run by a Sardarji. There was a buffet consisting of Chole, Mutter Paneer, Chicken, Dal Palak, Rice, Roti, Bhatura, Salad and Rice kheer. We ate our full and asked for directions to the American Falls. As we neared the Falls, we could see the river and the mist rising in the sky. We parked in a paid parking lot for $ 5. The parking charges here are too much and I guess they must be touching the sky in big cities like New York and Chicago. There is a park called the Niagara Falls Park alongside the gorge and the actual falls. Its a tremendous site viewing the river gushing down from just a few feet away. There are two falls, Horseshoe and the American Falls. The international border line between USA and Canada runs between these two falls. The Horseshoe falls are mostly on the Canadian side. There are some sites to visit at the American Falls.One of them is the "Cave in the Winds". We went there. They gave us special boots and raincoats to wear. We went down the elevator 50 feet below nearer to the Niagara river. There is a wooden stairway which takes us very near to the American Falls where the water hits the rocks.There are 5 decks on this way. The most closest to the water is the Hurricane deck. Here the water almost lands on you from up above. We managed to take some snaps there and got completely soaked. This was a wonderful experience as we could see ourselves right beneath the falls, well...almost. We had a large cup of Hot Chocolate after that and boughts ome souveneirs from the souveneir shop. There was also a boat ride. But we decided to cross into Canada as there was a chance of rain and we wanted to go to the hotel before dark. Our hotel was in St. Catherines about 2 hrs from Buffalo. We had to cross a bridge to get into Canada. The Canadian customs authorities checked our passports and asked some trivial questions. The Canadian countryside is all farmlands and conifers around. We were travelling along the Queen Elizabeth Way which is alongside the Lake Ontario in the Ontario State. We got to Days Inn at about 7 pm. Took a bath and had dinner in SubWay. A Veg Submarine which is like a roll stuffed with vegetables and cheese. The roll is one foot long. A six inch roll is also available. The location was very peaceful and we dozed off instantly as we did not have much sleep in Buffalo.
Saturday, Sept 1, St. Catherines
Got up at 9 in the morning. Readied ourselves. Checked out of hotel. Had a heavy breakfast of 3-eggs omlette, 2 bread slices and apple juice.Then headed towards Niagara falls on the Canadian side. We were thinking what different would the falls be from this side. We again had to encounter a long line of cars for going into the parking lot which took us half hour. But once we had done that, there was this fabulous sight of the falls. The Horseshoe falls from a very close proximity. The falls are 170 feet tall and the river falls down like a curtain of water. Too good a sight for the eyes. The mist was rising from down below and going above to become clouds. We could also see the American falls from the front side. Also the Cave of the Winds...we had been there earlier. The weather in the morning was sunny and the air chilly. But it was a pleasant feeling. There was a long walk starting from the Horseshoe falls till the front of the American falls. As we were going away from the Horseshoe falls, the view was getting more and more spectacular. We took a lot of snaps from there. Then we went to the "Maid of the Mist" boat ride. This boat ride takes you very close to the base of the Horseshoe falls where the water hits the rocks and from where the mist rises. We were given blue raincoats to cover us from the mist. The view of both the falls is terrific when seen from the river stream. When we neared the Horseshoe falls, we could see its enormity and the deafening roar of the water falling down. There was a lot of wind and mist around. We had taken a waterproof camera and took umpteen snaps of the falls. The feeling of being there, so close to the falls, is wonderful. There is a lot of hustle and bustle around the Canadian side of the Falls with flocks of tourists roaming. Attractive shops, restaurants, casinos, entertainment centers. There are famous hotels like Sheraton, Marriott, Hilton overlooking the falls. After those exciting moments, we decided to go to Toronto. We had lunch again at SubWay on our way. A footlong Veg Submarine. Ummmm... There were a lot of wineries on the way. We decided to have a look into one. It had numerous types of wines. We bought a Cabernate Sauvignon for us. The drive to Toronto is 1.5 hrs along the Lake Ontario on the QEW. As we neared the city, we could see the world famous CN Tower. When we entered Toronto, we goofed up on the exit again, only to get back on track. The Days Inn was quite far away from downtown Toronto. We checked in at 6:30 in the evening. The rooms in all the Days Inn hotel that we had booked had two double beds (for 4 of us viz Sidharth, Jitesh, Nadeem and myself) with telephone, TV, AC, coffee-maker, iron, table for ironing, alarm clock. All in all, the room was very good. We decided to go to the CN Tower. Got the directions from the hotel staff. We had to go along a street called Danforth Avenue. In Canada, there is a large Asian population and we could see Indian restaurants and stores all along Danforth. Somewhat like M G Road in Pune Camp. Nadeem was quite happy to see them as he felt more at home than in the US. After 30 minutes, we reached the SkyDome parking. Skydome is a world famous Baseball stadium besides the CN Tower. CN Tower is a huge 560 m tall structure, the tallest free standing structure in the world. CN stands for Canada's National Tower. We bought tickets to the glass floor and the Skypod. There was a long queue for going up. Had to wait for an hour for our turn. The elevator is a high speed lift which takes you from the 1st floor to the 140th floor in 58 seconds flat. That is a speed of 12 feet per second. And we could see the whole city whilst going up. How about that? When we stepped on the 140thfloor, we went to the observation deck. The view outside was magnificent!!! Toronto in the night...all lit up with countless yellow and white lights. The lake Ontario...the full moon light reflecting from the water...Wonderful !!! We went down one floor where there was a portion of the floor built with glass. Imagine standing on a glass floor 140 storeys high and looking down at the ground below. Amazing !!! People were taking photos of themselves sleeping on the glass. We had tickets for the Skypod as well. Had to wait in the queue there for 45 minutes. The skypod is the highest observation deck on the tower. At 147th floor, the city looked even more beautiful. Wait till you see the photos. It was already 11:30 and we still had to eat our dinner. We found a pizza place and had a Chicken pizza. Went into the hotel and slept off immediately.
Sunday, Sept 2, Toronto
Woke up at 9 in the morning. We decided to go to the African Lion Safari in Cambridge. Had breakfast at the hotel. Creamroll, Coffee, croissant, bread, jam. The drive to the safari was 2 hrs. But the traffic on the highway was very slow. Jitesh, who was navigating decided to take an alternate route thinking it was the right one. Later, we joined the road leading to the safari. Leading up to 2 kms to the safari gate, was a long queue of cars. It was a Sunday and everybody had thought of going to the safari. It took us 2 hrs to reach to the gate and after buying the tickets, we headed straight to the restaurant inside. We had Chinese food there. The safari is extensive and we can take our own cars along the trail. There again was a queue of cars and the progress was very slow. First we encountered birds. The only ones that we could identify were Ostrich. Then there were the dangerous animals like Lions, Tigers that were roaming around and not in cages. So the slow pace of the cars helped in taking snaps of the animals from real close. Then there were monkeys and Bears. The monkeys were sitting on the top and the mirrors of big cars. The little children in those cars had a treat watching the monkeys. Afterwards, there were Giraffes, Rhinos, Deer, Moose, roaming along a wide terrain, even crossing the road. Jitesh and Sids finished a roll each taking snaps of these animals.We then saw the parrot show which was nice. At about 6:15 in the evening, we started on our way back. Going back the route was different. We headed towards London, Windsor and through Detroit into the USA. The landscape was like what we see in wallpapers. Greenery all around with tall conifers on both sides. In between we could see vast farmland. A good sight for the eyes. After 160 miles, we came to the US-Canada border. It is again a bridge called the Ambassador bridge. Went into Detroit taking the fast express way. We missed an exit again as it was closed due to construction. We could not take the detour just because it was on the rightmost lane and we were in the leftmost one. Sidharth, who was driving, got a bit tensed. We took the next exit and enquired at a gas station. A man who was going to the highway asked us to follow him. We followed him and got into the highway which would take us back to Bloomington. We grabbed something to eat and drink at McDonalds and then again at a gas station late in the night. We reached Bloomington at 5 am local time.

So...that was the trip description. The maps that we get here are very useful as they have the exact directions for going to a destination. Sometimes the road signs can be tricky too as we found out when we missed the exits. But, all in all, it was a very wonderful and exciting trip.
Thats it from me till my next trip.

Pyaar se, :-)
Sandeep

Revival

Reviving this blog after 2+ years. This was registered with a different e-mail id and I was not able to find it in my Blog Dashboard. But, got hold of it today. I will post some of my old travel write-ups starting from the 2002 Niagara Falls visit. Friends have been pressing me to put all those write-ups in a blog and continue blogging more often. I hope to do so.