Toronto

Our next stop that day was Toronto. We had to get there by 5pm to drop the car off at the rental company and we thought it would be a lot closer to the falls. Thankfully there was not too much traffic either at the border or on the highway getting there. However, we got to the garage and office at 5:05pm and the office was shut. We parked, dropped the keys and took photos with time stamps to show that we were there pretty much on time (and in the end they did not charge us late fees).

We then had to walk off to find out rental apartment in the centre. It was really busy as it turned out there was a BlueJays game that evening and where we were staying was very close to the stadium. Vanessa wouldn’t let me see if there was tickets as she really wanted to try and see Toronto even though it was already getting late.
After checking in, we headed out to see what we could find, making our way towards Chinatown where Vanessa had earmarked two must-visit eateries. The first stop on our culinary journey was Juicy Dumpling, renowned for its authentic, handmade Chinese dumplings, offering a diverse array of flavours from traditional pork to sumptuous vegetable fillings, all served up in a casual, welcoming setting that promised a genuine taste of China right in the heart of Toronto. There was a short line when we got there and were even able to find a seat, as someone was leaving just as we got our food.

After our delightful experience at Juicy Dumpling, we ventured to our next culinary destination, Swatow Restaurant, only to find a bustling scene with a long line of eager patrons snaking outside. The palpable air of anticipation mixed with a touch of impatience from those waiting hinted at the restaurant's popularity and the mouthwatering dishes that awaited inside, making us all the more excited to step into this renowned hotspot of Toronto's Chinatown.

Food eaten, we wandered around for a little bit in the general direction of our accommodation. By now there were a lot of people in the bars and the street after the game. We saw more Canadians being sick on the footpath (that was both Halifax and Toronto where we saw this now) and we eventually made it back to the accommodation to get some sleep before our relatively early train the next day.

The next morning we got the Maple Leaf by Amtrak from Toronto to New York. It took about 12 and half hours but it was a very pleasant way to travel. We had business class tickets so we got to board a little earlier than others and in the business class there were comfortable individual reclining seats, power sockets and tray tables. We got unlimited (within reason) free drinks and snacks on board. There was also wifi which worked better than my roaming did.

2 and a bit hours after we left Toronto we got back to the border at Niagara Falls, where everyone had to take their luggage and leave the train to go through passport control. As we were in Business, we were right at the front of the line for the passport control and so were through relatively easily and fast. We then had about an hour to wait for all the other passengers to be cleared through. We could however go back to our nice seats to wait for this process to be finished.

New York State and New York City

We crossed through some of the same places we had driven the day before until the train turned south at Albany and headed towards New York. It was much easier to watch the landscape from the train than it has been from the interstate in the car. From Albany the train followed the river all the way into Penn Station. We arrived just before 9pm and got ourselves a taxi to the Marmara Park Avenue hotel where I would spend 1 night with Vanessa, but where she would stay for the following week while working in New York.

The hotel staff were friendly at check in and the room was nice enough. But it was pricey and there was nothing that seemed to justify the prices.

After checking in we made our way back out as Vanessa had made reservations at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse. This place had some pretty good food. We ordered steaks, of course, and settled into our meal. It was quite confronting at first just how loud all the other tables were. It was like they were in competition with each other to be the loudest in the place. While there, it was someone’s birthday and most of the restaurant joined in with singing happy birthday, except one table, that again, thought their conversation needed to be louder than the rest of the restaurant singing happy birthday. Anyway, it was a really nice meal and we did enjoy the atmosphere in the restaurant. We finished the meal and went back to the hotel at 11pm and so called it a night.


My last day of the trip I had planned a little trip out to see the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Hospital.

So first we got on the subway and headed down to The Battery. We wandered around the park for a little bit and then Vanessa decided she really needed to both go to the toilet and have a coffee. So we found a corner Starbucks and grabbed a drink and used the facilities. We had tickets to go out to the islands for 9:30am and so made our way over to the entrance. At this hour, there was no line and hardly anyone about. I can highly recommend going at this time.

The boat took us out to the Statue of Liberty. We wandered around the base, reading all the info signs. We had decided we didn’t really want to climb the statue, but we did look in both the museums on this island. There was loads of interesting information to see there.

Next we took the boat over to Ellis Island. The museum here is huge and full of information. We wandered through it and read as much as we could before our hospital tour started.

The Ellis Island Hospital Hard Hat Tour is a unique and immersive experience that takes visitors through the abandoned medical complex on Ellis Island, which operated from the early 1900s to 1954. The tour is a guided experience, often led by knowledgeable guides from Save Ellis Island, the organization responsible for preserving the hospital complex. Visitors are required to wear hard hats for protection as they explore the unrestored buildings, a testament to the tour's authenticity and the site's raw historical state. The Ellis Island hospital was once the standard for United States medical care. During the tour, visitors learn about the complex history of the hospital, which was once the first stop for millions of immigrants entering the United States. The facility includes a contagious disease ward, a psychiatric ward, and other medical facilities.

Blurb out of the way, this was a fantastic tour, seeing all the building in their different states of restoration or disrepair. The foundation does not get federal money so they have to chose carefully what they restore and when. The guide gave us so much information and moved through the building at a good pace for us and also for the other members of the tour. It was a real highlight for us as well always enjoy these type of buildings and this tour was put together so well.

After the hospital tour we headed back to New York to wander around for a bit. I had a hot dog in the battery park before we took the subway back up town to find some shops. We went into an REI to maybe buy some outdoor gear, which was a little disappointing as the selection was not very wide, and as we were leaving we saw someone being chased out of the store as he had stolen a bunch of items. He got on his bike and pedalled off pretty quick.

Now it was approaching lunch time and I had said to Vanessa that I really wanted to get New York slice. And it just happened that we were next to little Italy. So we headed around the corner in search of some pizza. It just so happened that for the weekend that we were there they were doing the Feast of San Gennaro. There were street stalls, music and loads of drink and food vendors. It was a proper party that was packed full of people. We really enjoyed pushing through the crowds and I even got a slice of pizza that I was more than happy with.

Finished there we made our way back to the subway and continued uptown to the hotel. And as we came out of the subway we could hear loads of noise and music coming from a few streets away. We thought, what the hell, let’s go check out that as well. And when we got there we found that we stumbled upon the Mexican National Day parade that was winding it way through New York. It was loud, with loads of trucks playing loud music and plenty of people lining the streets singing and cheering. It was fun to see all the colours and the costumes and we watched for a little bit.

By this time though we knew I didn’t have long left to get a taxi to the airport, so we went back to the hotel and ordered a cab. We waited outside for a while and the hotel receptionist who ordered the cab came a couple of times to apologise and to say that the cab was not really moving on the tracker. We eventually found a cab who was just dropping someone off on out street and we took that instead of waiting longer for one to arrive. The driver had told us that because the UN General Assembly, the protests associated with that, the Mexican parade and some other protest, it was almost impossible to move around the city that day by car. I was concerned as I had not really left that much time to get to the airport. Thankfully the traffic moving east off the island was not too bad and then we got onto a nice motorway that was pretty empty and made it to the airport in time.

I had received a notification earlier that day that my bid for a business class upgrade had been accepted on Swiss, so this time, instead of having one of the worst flights of my life I had a pretty good one. The food selection was good and the wine to go with it was very nice. I had a full bed to sleep on which was needed as I was going straight to the office the next morning after I arrived back in Switzerland.

Writing it like this it sounds like we were away for more than just 10 days. We had a great time, met some fun and interesting people along the way, saw many cool things and had a blast being on holidays.