Niagara Falls-Ottawa-Montreal 🚘

The first stop of our road trip was Niagara Falls. After a slightly delayed arrival due to some initial car troubles, we finally arrived in the afternoon. Surprised by this more or less amusement park city that welcomed us, we first strolled towards the waterfalls. The first impression was somewhat disappointing for all three of us. Somehow, we had envisioned these world-famous waterfalls to be more spectacular. Nevertheless, they were still pretty cool. Of course, a boat ride to the falls is a must when visiting, so we did that too. It was indeed a great success and the best way to cool down on such a hot day. The boat got quite close to the falls, and we got a sense of how much water really comes down. After that, we browsed a bit through the souvenir shops and treated ourselves to a sweet cooling treat. Then, we headed to our first hotel in Kitchener/Waterloo. Tired, we all fell into bed. The next morning, we took advantage of the hotel pool, which we had all to ourselves the whole time. The first program point of the day was the St. Jacobs Farmers Market, which was surprisingly right in front of the hotel. After our car snack shopping, we unfortunately had to leave because, for some reason, you couldn't walk around barefoot there, and well, I naturally didn't have my shoes as always. We then continued through the Mennonite villages of Elmira, Heidelberg, and Elora, and we even saw a family riding in those typical carriages. For lunch, we stopped at Lake Huron, where we got caught in a thunderstorm. We spent the second night in the Sudbury train station district. The next day, we first visited the Onaping Waterfall, where we spent several hours because, of course, I couldn't be dragged out of the water again. We then spent the night in the small town of North Bay, which is also located by a lake. Ruby and I watched the sunset from the water while Mom waited for us on the shore. For the next day, we had a longer drive to Ottawa. Ottawa is the capital of Canada, but it really has very little to offer. After we visited the parliament and one or two more beautiful buildings, we retreated to a shopping mall to make our souvenir purchases. In the evening, we sat on a rooftop bar and enjoyed the view on all sides. We then headed to Montreal. We parked the car at the hotel and made our way into the city. We first wanted to get an overview from above and climbed the 520 steps to Mont Royal. After enjoying the view for a while and catching our breath, we marched back down. Now we've definitely earned a good meal! At our next stop in Montreal, it was again a new continent, a new tattoo for me. Thought and done, and two hours later, I could already show it to Mom and Ruby. To learn a bit more about the history of Montreal, we did a city tour the next day after our breakfast in the room. However, since our feet still really hurt from the day before and it was really hot, we quietly bailed out a bit earlier and got ourselves a well-deserved beer. After that, it was time for Ruby's tattoo. It was her first tattoo, so we were all the more excited. While Ruby was getting inked, Mom and I waited at the rooftop bar with an espresso martini. We hadn't even gotten our cocktails when Ruby was already done with her tattoo. All excited about the new tattoo, we made our way back to the hotel. The next day, we headed to our last accommodation in Kingston. On the way there, we drove through the Thousand Islands National Park. This time, having checked in a bit earlier, Ruby made herself comfortable in the hotel room while Mom and I strolled into the city of Kingston. Unfortunately, everything was already closed, and we just enjoyed a nice walk into the city. For dinner, we sat by Lake Ontario and let the evening wind down. During sunset, we walked back to our hotel, while Ruby was making herself frozen pizza in the microwave. Thus, sadly, our last day together had come. Since it was pouring rain, we also had to skip the boat ride to the Thousand Islands and headed back to Toronto. Unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye after two incredible but also beautiful weeks that flew by. We thoroughly enjoyed the time together, and now I’m heading back to the USA. On the way there, I could see Niagara Falls from the bus again, this time illuminated at night. 🫶🏼