August 3, 2006: New York & Ontario

Signs of Canada:

• Metric measurements

• Red maple leaves

• Mild-mannered police (or at least innocuous-looking; we haven’t been pulled over yet)

• The French language

• British spellings (e.g. Harbourfront Centre)

• The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto

We intended to reach Toronto by mid-afternoon, but an impulsive historical detour put the kibosh on that plan. Leaving Ithaca, we headed north along Lake Cayuga. When I saw the sign for the town of Seneca Falls, however, I turned off. Seneca Falls is significant for its location on the Cayuga-Seneca Canal, part of the Erie Canal System, between the two largest Finger Lakes. But the town is also important for being the site of the first women’s rights convention in 1848.

Growing out of the Methodist and Quaker anti-slavery movements, the gathering drew 300 women and men, 100 of which signed an unprecedented document calling for female emancipation and empowerment. Penned by Seneca Falls resident Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her friends, it was an eloquent rewording and emendation of the Declaration of Independence, stating that “all men and women are created equal.” In an age when women were denied the vote, property rights, and education, the convention and the writing of the “Declaration of Sentiments” were inspiring and, eventually, world-changing events.

There are numerous historical sites and museums in the town, one of which, the Seneca Museum of Waterways and Industry, the boys found diverting for its presentation of early machinery. A poster on its wall, for an embalmed 65-foot whale that toured the area in the 1800s, was especially arresting.

Approaching Niagara Falls, we were surrounded by the beauty of the broad river on the one hand and the dreariness of an industrial wasteland on the other. But we left the industry behind as we neared the falls. The river drops 50 feet just before the final plunge, creating rushing rapids on both its American and Canadian branches. The hotels, casinos, and towers of the resorts on both sides have in no way diminished since we last visited; apparently people do still come here for their honeymoons.

We paid a toll, had our passports inspected by a pretty blonde customs officer, crossed Rainbow Bridge, and joined the crowds admiring the American Falls

and being soaked by the mists from the Canadian Falls. Then we took the expressway, Queen Elizabeth Way, which became a parking lot from Hamilton all the way through downtown Toronto. Rain, construction, and rush-hour congestion caused what might have been a half-hour drive to become a nearly two-hour crawl. We’ve dealt with bad traffic in Atlanta, Washington, New York, and Boston, but this beat all of them by many a mile.

To pass the time, we listened to a CD called The Rough Guide to the Music of Canada. We laughed as we drew alongside a truck belonging to a Canadian trucking company by the name of Fluke. Their slogan: “If it’s on time, it’s a Fluke.” Eventually the tallest building in the world came into view. Since we ascended the CN Tower on our last visit, we won’t do it this time, but it’s an exciting, if pricy, experience. There’s a glass floor at 1,122 feet and a “sky pod” at 1,465 feet. The tower tops out at 1,815 feet.

For reasons of security, our Torontonian friends prefer that their names and photos not appear on this blog. We first met the couple, a manager at a clothing company and a librarian, when we were all living in Japan nearly 20 years ago. They and their young daughter greeted us, welcomed us to the Upper Beaches neighborhood, and served us hamburgers, hot dogs, Greek salad, and a superb gazpacho for dinner.

We sat in their basement until the wee hours watching the DVD of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Tommy found the film intriguing, but he objected to the aliens’ humanoid form, since he’s decided that aliens, if they exist, are highly unlikely to resemble us.