Visiting our Neighbors to the North (Canada, 2017)

Our trip to our neighbors to the North! We landed in Toronto and headed to the suburb of Brampton to my mom’s cousin brother’s house. (Mihir mama). Little did I know that the burb had such a high Punjabi population that some of the street signs were even in Punjabi. Some of the neighboring burbs are also very heavily Punjabi—even Nav, the first brown boy to get it popping, is from such a suburb.

For our first day, we took a day trip to Niagara Falls. I’d seen the falls from the US side, but it was cool to see it from the Canadian side. We even went into a cave opening under the waterfall and took the ferry ride into the center of the falls (as a kid I was frightened of these ferries because I thought they go into the waterfall and the weight of the water would hurt!). I really wanted to cross the bridge that takes you over the border, but it was too far to walk and we didn’t have a car. I got a little upset, but nothing a Tim Horton’s donut couldn’t solve. We took a really scenic walk, saw Niagara River and the rapids, and ended the day with a firework show over the falls (which happens daily in the summer).

The next day, we head into downtown Toronto. It was the year of Canada’s 150th anniversary, so there were ‘CANADA 150’ signs everywhere. First, we checked out CN Tower and went up to the observatory. They had sections with glass flooring, which was cool, but all things considered, the view was kind of average (mid!) compared to NYC/Chicago observatories. Then, we went to Ripley’s Aquarium next door, which had really pretty jellyfish. There were also 360-degree tunnels with fish and sharks, an area where you could pop your head into a tank (like the helmet of a space suit), and areas to touch stingrays and skunk-cleaner shrimp. We headed back on the train and enjoyed our last night with Mihir mama + fam.

The next day, we boarded a train to Ottawa and began the next leg in our adventure (the train also had a CANADA 150 logo!) at my mom’s cousin sister’s (Kalpa Masi/Tushar Masa/Het Didi) house. We then headed to the governmental area, where we saw the Parliament building (you can get the flag that flies over it for free, but the wait times are over 80 years!), the World War I and Boer War memorials, and the historic Rideau Canal. The following day, we went to a nature preserve about 2 hours away. We got to feed deer with carrots from our own hands—SO CUTE!! They were super comfortable with people and would cuddle against your leg when you fed them. We tried to have a picnic and the deer would aggressively take our food or bump into us asking to feed them! Side note, they also peed everywhere. The preserve also had wolves and they had a feeding show where they fed the wolves. We wrapped up with a nature walk around a lake that had a spotted deer (Axis Deer?) that followed us around for a while. Unfortunately, these hanging caterpillars come out during the summer and fall from above, getting inside your shirt and all over your arms. This absolutely freaked me out and after the first one fell on me, I sprinted back to the car, where we all realized we had 3-4 more on us that were hiding in our clothing.

Post-caterpillar scare, we got a beaver tail, a regional sweet delicacy that was SO GOOD. I still think about it sometimes. The next couple days were more nature-oriented, where we walked along a river trail dedicated to Ghandi (that had a Tim Horton’s next to it!) and played in the sand on the riverbank. We also hiked up a challenging mountain and got treated to gorgeous waterfalls and views of the Canadian rural landscape.

After doing a quick Raksha Bandhan with Het Didi + family (2 months early), we boarded a train and headed to Montréal for our last leg. We saw a lot of churches, including Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal on a hilltop and the Notre Dame Basilica of Montréal, which was stunning from the inside. The Olympic stadium was also a must-see, followed by a ferry across the river. It was a struggle to find vegetarian food given the French influence and had to settle for something that was average (mid!). After a night in a beautiful downtown hotel, we headed back to the deep South.

Overview

• Toronto suburbs is the place to be if you’re Punjabi
• Canadian cities are really cool and know how to make desserts + donuts
• Canadian deer are super friendly, as are Canadian caterpillars (maybe a little toooooooo friendly)
• Montréal has some great architecture, from churches to stadiums