The people in the part of Ontario (London, Stratford) we visited were genuinely friendly and kind. It's fair to say Canadians are more kind, more civil compared to Americans. I also noticed that there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of immigrants from India who were also very friendly. Not going to post personal pictures, but here's the Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. It was smaller than I'd pictured it would be. It was amazing 5 days.
That's so funny about the falls being smaller - it's what we thought too! They're still wonderful and I love that there's no fee to visit (although the parking cost was eye watering). I'd loved to have seen them from the US side but saved our border crossing back into the US for Detroit. Back when we were in South America, we had days when we crossed from Chile - Argentina and back again in the same day. It was all very easy. I didn't fancy doing that with the US.
We were a bit concerned because of the current US/Canada relationships but everything went as planned. We too thought the parking was ridiculously expensive on the US side of the falls. We were starving but the restaurant next to the parking closed at 4pm. We were like WHAT?? So we spent maybe an hour there, took some pictures and then crossed the border and had our dinner in Canada.
It sounds so surprising that the falls seem smaller in person. We will probably go there in late August, so it's good to know about the parking price and the restaurant. The photos look great, amazing view!
If you don't mind a 10 minute walk through the town parking gets cheaper. I think it was $5 for a hour, or $10 all day - on the canadian side.
We went to Niagara Falls 3-4 years ago or so. We did not bother to go to the Canadian side because they were still in panic mode over the vaccine and it sounded like a pain for an American to cross the border. The Falls do look smaller than the professional photography we are used to seeing. That said, if you stand there and consider the gazillions of gallons of water that are passing in front of your eyes every minute, it is jaw-dropping. We also did the ferry (SS Tesla) and the Falls look much bigger from that angle, of course. I have been to Canada dozens, perhaps scores of times over the decades and cannot point to any particularly memorable food. I don't recall anything really bad, either. I am not a big fan of poutine (I will eat it, but not a first choice) so that is a problem, too.
Just returned to Canada crossing over just north of the US Glacier National Park and the place was overrun with prairie dogs - adorable!
I appreciated the noticeable reduction in sodium in both food and beverages. One intriguing observation was that some Chinese restaurants we visited (two, specifically) were operated by Indian owners. Despite the menus listing Chinese dishes, the food was prepared with Indian flavors, such as curry, instead of traditional Chinese spices. I'm curious about how such culinary fusions are regulated in Canada.
Weird. I would not be happy to select a Chinese restaurant and find myself eating Indian food. My wife would be even more upset as she does not like Indian food. Perhaps they should re-label the restaurant cuisine as "Asian" to be more accurate.
We went to a Thai restaurant in North Carolina, a stone's throw from the Wright Brothers park, and I swear they've never even had a thai customer, let alone someone in the kitchen! We did go to a Chinese restaurant in Cardston, Canada, last night and that was VERY authentic. How you leave China for a better life in Canada and end up in a dying town on the US/Canadian border is beyond me.