Everything I Know About Canada I Learned from “How I Met Your Mother”: Road Trip Day 2

Canada is different from America. Logically, we knew that -- it is a different country after all -- but I guess in a way we didn't really believe it.

Scott: "The green light is blinking. I don't know what that means. WHY is the green light blinking?"

Me: "I think it means you can turn left. You know, because the car in front of you turned left when the green light started blinking."

The little green crosswalk man is different in Canada too. In a good way. Isn't he SO CUTE!

We crossed Rainbow Bridge with minimal hassle, hit the Ontario Visitor’s Center for directions (our road atlas, even though I was by then atlas-reading proficient, is U.S.A. specific. And by the way, wow, they were REALLY nice in there!), and headed to Niagara-on-the-Lake – a village in Ontario’s wine country that we were told would be similar to Lambertville, NJ, one of our favorite Philadelphia-region places to visit.

After a lovely lunch on the patio at Zee’s Grill (lobster salad and a glass of local Riesling for me, an albacore tuna wrap for Scott, all of it fabulous) at the very end of the main drag, we ventured down the road for a touch of shopping. Or so we thought.

If you’re planning to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake – which really is very sweet and charming – keep in mind it is also bustling on a gorgeous sunny summer afternoon. Like really bustling. Like as comparable to Rockafeller Center two weeks before Christmas-bustling as a small town can get. I had just enough time to grab a double scoop of Rolocoaster ice cream (that would be chocolate and caramel flavored ice cream with Rolos in it.  And yes it WAS as good as it sounds), before Scott decided the crushing sea of humanity was too much to handle and ushered me back to the car.

About an hour or so later (I fell asleep in the car at one point), we arrived in Toronto.

Observations:

Toronto is very clean.

Toronto’s waterside walkways are packed with tourists on the weekends. And the vendors charge extortionate prices for cans of soda.

If you’re going to Toronto on a day the Queen of England is set to arrive (which we were), it may be difficult to vehiculary move though the city.

People in Canada really do say “eh” or “ay” however it is spelled.

If you don’t have a plan in Toronto and you are anything like us, you will go, take lots of pictures of the CN Tower, wander absently around the city for a while, try to use the free map they give you at the visitor's bureau to find exciting stuff to do, learn that the free map they give you at the visitor's bureau is about as useful as a map from 1952, discover Yonge Street, be slightly overwhelmed by the number of people on Yonge Street, realize that it’s 8:30 and still super light outside and you're exhausted from the previous activities of the day (Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake), decide you’re tired, drive to your hotel, turn in for the night, and about a week later, write a really long run-on sentence summing up what you did when you were in Toronto.

Oh, did I mention how AMAZING Rolocoaster ice cream is? I would make a special trip back to Canada for Rolocoaster ice cream. I did mention it? OK, good.